Autoreactive B cell repertoire in blood and tissues of patients with Sjogren's syndrome

Sjogren's syndrome (SjS) is a disease that is characterized by chronic inflammation and destruction of exocrine glands. It can be complicated by extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT lymphoma). Experimental models of SjS are driven by autoreactive T and B cells, but in patients the etiology and disease mechanisms remain poorly understood, especially at the individual level.A combination of techniques to analyze autoreactive B cell clones show partly similar, partly different affinity maturation of ANA and RF clones in the tissues of SjS patients, including MALT lymphoma tissue, and divergent expansion of these cells at clinical relapse after rituximab treatment. From a clinical perspective the techniques allow tracking of lymphoma clones and give insight in the clinical response to rituximab treatment.