{"id":599191,"date":"2026-07-22T21:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T21:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/599191\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T21:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T21:00:14","slug":"ultrasensitive-blood-test-detects-sjogrens-disease-years-early-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/599191\/","title":{"rendered":"Ultrasensitive Blood Test Detects Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s Disease Years Early, Study Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

An ultrasensitive blood test could detect Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s disease more than a decade before a clinical diagnosis, according to a study<\/a> published in The Lancet Rheumatology.<\/p>\n

Researchers found that over 50% of patients with the autoimmune condition<\/a>\u2014which causes the immune system to mistakenly attack moisture-producing glands\u2014have chronically high levels of an inflammatory protein called interferon alpha (IFN-\u03b1). These levels are identifiable long before symptoms develop, the study shows.<\/p>\n

Pinpointing the involvement of interferon alpha could help clinicians target the right treatment to the right patient, improving the management of the condition. Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s disease<\/a> affects approximately 500,000 people in the United Kingdom, and 90% of adults diagnosed are women.<\/p>\n

The disease affects the exocrine glands, which produce substances like tears, saliva, and other fluids, causing chronic inflammation that prevents the glands from functioning properly. There is currently no cure, and treatment focuses on managing symptoms such as joint pain, dry mouth, and extreme tiredness.<\/p>\n

Identifying a Protein Fingerprint<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scientists from the University of Edinburgh and University Hospital Bonn in Germany studied the immune systems of more than 170 patients with Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s disease<\/a>. Because the body typically produces interferon alpha in very small quantities, the researchers used a new method to detect individual molecules.<\/p>\n

The study found that approximately 60% of patients had an increased amount of the protein. This elevation was linked to different activity levels of specific genes in the immune system, creating a unique protein fingerprint in the blood of this patient group.<\/p>\n

\u201cSj\u00f6gren\u2019s disease is a debilitating condition which is often overlooked. We are delighted to have shown how precision medicine technologies can be used in Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s disease to help decode the immune pathways which cause disease,\u201d says David Hunt<\/a>, PhD, a professor at the University of Edinburgh Institute for Neuroscience and Cardiovascular Research, in a release. \u201cWe hope that this is an important step towards making our ultrasensitive IFN-\u03b1 blood test available to people affected by this condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Predicting Disease Development<\/strong><\/p>\n

The research team extended the findings using blood samples from 250 patients in the UK Biobank. The analysis showed that the protein fingerprints could be detected more than 10 years before patients developed the disease.<\/p>\n

The study also used mouse models to show that high levels of interferon alpha led to features of Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s disease<\/a>. These models responded to a drug that blocked the biological effects of the protein.<\/p>\n

The findings suggest two distinct pathways linked to the development of the condition. This immune diversity could support the use of treatments to suppress interferon alpha specifically for patients with high protein levels, according to the researchers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, for the first time, we can take treatments geared toward suppressing the interferon effect and trial them specifically on patients with elevated interferon levels. We might also find new approaches to treatment that will help a large percentage of patients over the long term,\u201d says Rayk Behrendt, a professor at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology at the University Hospital Bonn, in a release.<\/p>\n

The study was funded by the Chief Scientist Office and Wellcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Precision Medicine Alliance Scotland funding aims to bring precision medicine from the laboratory into everyday National Health Service Scotland care, and this research is a vital step towards more personalised treatment for people with Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s disease,\u201d says Anna Dominiczak, a professor and the chief scientist, health, for the Scottish Government, in a release.<\/p>\n

ID 220596341<\/a> \u00a9 Kowniewping<\/a> | Dreamstime.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An ultrasensitive blood test could detect Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s disease more than a decade before a clinical diagnosis, according to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[78],"tags":[55720,34756,10722,8626,37516,18,135,19,5533,253506,17,88540,2563,202960,253507,253508,100384],"class_list":["post-599191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-autoimmune-disease","tag-blood-test","tag-clinical-research","tag-diagnostics","tag-early-detection","tag-eire","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-immunology","tag-interferon-alpha","tag-ireland","tag-laboratory-testing","tag-personalized-medicine","tag-protein-biomarkers","tag-sju00f6grenu2019s-disease","tag-the-lancet-rheumatology","tag-womenu2019s-health"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116965646520412834","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}