Research Identifies Two New Cell Types in Sjögren’s Syndrome

LTβR-Ig is a therapeutic intervention currently being tested without success in patients with pSS in the Baminercept trial. When the researchers tested the effect of LTβR-Ig in mice, they found that LTβR-Ig selectively halted recruitment of PD1- naïve, but not PD1+, effector T cells to the target tissue. In particular, LTβR-Ig had no effect on cells with pathogenic potential. The authors concluded their paper by suggesting that the transcriptional signatures of these effector cells, as well as their differential dependency on the lymphotoxin/LIGHT signaling axis, may help to explain the negative results of the Baminercept trial.

Lara C. Pullen, PhD, is a medical writer based in the Chicago area.

Reference

1. Haskett S, Ding J, Zhang W, et al. Identification of novel CD4+ T cell subsets in the target tissue of Sjögren’s syndrome and their differential regulation by the lymphotoxin/LIGHT signaling axis. J Immunol. 2016 Nov 15;197(10):3806–3819. Epub 2016 Oct 7.