Purified CD123+BDCA4+ plasmacytoid dendritic sorted cell-population derived from IFN signature positive primary Sjögren’s syndrome patients and IFN signature negative primary Sjögren’s syndrome patients compared to Healthy Control individuals

The IFN type I signature is present in over half of primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) patients and associated with higher disease-activity and autoantibody presence. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are considered to be the source of enhanced IFN type I expression. The objective of this study was to unravel the molecular pathways underlying IFN type I bioactivity in pDCs of pSS patients. We used microarray gene expression analysis to detail the programme of gene expression underlying IFN type I bioactivity in pDCs of primary Sjogrens' Syndrome patients. Microarray expression data from purified CD123+BDCA4+ plasmacytoid dendritic sorted cell-population derived from IFN signature positive primary Sjögren’s syndrome patients and IFN signature negative primary Sjögren’s syndrome patients, compared to Healthy Control individuals We isolated RNA from FACS sorted CD123+BDCA4+ plasmacytoid dentritic cells (pDCs) and compared gene expression of IFN signature positive primary Sjögren’s syndrome patients (pSS), IFN signature negative pSS patients and Healthy Control (HC) individuals. pDCs obtained from 4 HC, 3 IFNneg and 3 IFNpos pSS patients were analyzed. After quality control analysis of the gene chip arrays, 2 HC, 2 IFNneg and 3 IFNpos pSS samples remained for further analysis.