Genetic variants associated with Sjögren's disease subtypes stratified by clinical feature.

INTRODUCTION

Sjögren's disease (SjD) is a chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by dry mouth (xerostomia) and dry eyes (xerophthalmia) due to inflammation in exocrine glands, particularly the salivary and lacrimal glands. The condition presents a wide variety of clinical features, suggesting that it may involve heterogeneous conditions without a clear boundary. Although genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified several genetic variants associated with SjD, their roles in SjD pathogenesis remain unclear.

METHODS

In this study, we aimed to identify single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with SjD by categorizing patients based on four diagnostic markers: anti-Ro/SSA and anti-La/SSB antibodies, IgG levels, and lymphocyte foci, using a genotype-phenotype dataset (NCBI dbGaP phs000672.v1.p1) which included 594 SjD patients, 1,264 sicca symptomatic individuals without SjD diagnosis (as a control group), and 41 healthy individuals (as another control group) .

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: We identified SNPs associated with each subtype of SjD, organized by two factors of diagnostic markers, X (anti-SSA and/or anti-SSB autoantibody) and Y (IgG or lymphocyte foci), with an adjusted p-value less than 5x10-8. The SjD subtypes were classified as follows: Group A (Factors X+ and Y+), Group B (X+ and Y-), Group C (X- and Y+), and Group D (X- and Y-). We found distinct SNPs associated with each group of SjD patients. This study can help advance the SjD subtype investigation, supporting precision diagnosis and treatment of SjD.