United States: An ordinary drug provides the latest scope to treat severe Sjögren’s syndrome, which erases inflammation and reconstructs saliva generation, reveals research.
More about the news
A new study shows that the rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib (Olumiant) has passed clinical trials when used to prevent the worsening of Sjögren’s disease using lab mice.
This is done by suppressing the effector arm of the immune system that causes Sjögren’s as the scientists opine in the Science Translational Medicine journal.
More about the disease
Sjögren’s disease, a debilitating condition occurs when there is attack by the immune system itself gainst the glands who do produce saliva and tears.
In addition, the affected patients are also known to suffer from fatigue, joint and muscle aches, and rashes in their lungs, US News reported.
It is the second most prevalent rheumatic autoimmune disease in the United States; however, it is three times more prevalent than related diseases like lupus or multiple sclerosis, according to the Sjögren’s Foundation.
In fact, the foundation reports that as many as 4 million, or one in 70, Americans live with Sjögren’s syndrome.
How did this occur?
To find out how Sjögren’s occurred, researchers chose to study salivary gland cells and immune cells.
They also learned that an inflammatory chemical produced by the immune system, interferon-gamma, seems to cut saliva production in mice.
Normally, T cells act to suppress interferon-gamma levels, which the researchers explained.
As can be seen in the results section, if a genetic defect affects T cell function, interferon gamma is produced in high levels – high enough to mimic Sjögren’s in its presentation.
Because of that, researchers thought that perhaps there was a drug that could prevent interferon from acting and thus treat Sjögren’s.
Baricitinib is a JAK inhibitor, a category of drugs that lowers certain signals involved with the immune system in the body brought by interferon, US News reported.
Baricitinib also helped the mice increase saliva production and decrease inflammation, according to the researchers’ study.