Gene Expression of Interferon (INF) and B Lymphocyte Biomarkers as Markers of Systemic Affectation and Lymphoproliferative Disease in Primary Sjögren's Syndrome

This project, address the value of these proposed biomarkers in pSS with regard to disease activity and risk stratification of pSS subsets. The investigator's group aim to determine if the proposed biomarkers and their gene expression in saliva, peripheral blood and minor salivary gland samples in patients with pSS are increased to know the degree of their usefulness in daily clinical practice, to indicate which patients have a highest risk of developing a hematological malignancy and to know if these biomarkers are useful to recognize patients who have greater activity of the disease to be able to use it in the follow-up of the disease and as a future responder of the new biological therapies against B cells, INF and monocytes.

Gene expression is a highly regulated mechanism that controls the function and adaptability of all living cells. The field of gene expression analysis has undergone important advances in biomedical research. Today, quantification techniques of mRNA expression have led to improvements in the identification of the gene and the sub-classification of the disease, for example, the expression of specific genes (mRNA) can be quantified by reverse transcription and PCR in quantitative real time. This is the most sensitive technique available to detect and quantify mRNA, where extremely small sample sizes can be used in mRNA quantification. Molecular changes precede histological changes and clinicians in the diagnosis of a pathology. For this reason, studying gene expression at the mRNA level allows us to anticipate irreversible changes that take place due to the progress of the pathology in progress.