Abnormal Antibodies Precede Sjögren’s

Abnormal antibodies are found in some people with Sjögren’s syndrome years before symptoms appear, a new study finds. Sjögren’s syndrome is an autoimmune disease. As in other such diseases, people with this condition have abnormal antibodies that attack parts of the body. These are called autoantibodies. In the case of Sjögren’s syndrome, they attack organs that produce lubricating fluid, such as tears. The new study focused on 44 people with Sjögren’s syndrome. All of them had given blood samples, for unrelated reasons, 4 to 6 years before they started having symptoms of Sjögren’s. Researchers tested the blood. They found autoantibodies in 29 out of 44 samples. These results were compared with an otherwise similar group of people who did not have Sjögren’s. Some people in this group also had autoantibodies in their blood.