Distinct Clinical Characteristics of Anti-Ro/SSA Negative Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome: Data from a Cohort for Sjögren’s Syndrome in Korea

Youngjae Park¹, Jennifer Lee ¹, Jung Hee Koh ², Yoon-Kyoung Sung ³, Shin-Seok Lee ⁴, Jung Yoon Choe ⁵, Seung-Cheol Shim ⁶, Ji-Min Kim ⁷, Seong-Ryul Kwon ⁸, Hyun-Ok Kim ⁹, So-Hyang Chung ¹⁰, Wan-Uk Kim ¹, Sung-Hwan Park ¹ and Seung-Ki Kwok ¹, ¹Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea, ²Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Bucheon St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea, Bucheon, Republic of Korea, ³Department of Rheumatology, Hanyang University Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Seoul, Republic of Korea, ⁴Department of Rheumatology, Chonnam National University Medical School and Hospital, Gwangju, Republic of Korea, ⁵Division of Rheumatology, Daegu Catholic University Medical Center, Daegu, Republic of Korea, ⁶Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Chungnam National University, Chungnam National University Hospital, Daejeon, Republic of Korea, ⁷Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Centre, Daegu, Republic of Korea, ⁸Inha University Hospital, Incheon, Republic of Korea, ⁹Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Gyeongsang National University Changwon Hospital, Changwon, Republic of Korea, ¹⁰Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Seoul St Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Meeting: 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting

Keywords: autoantibodies and salivary gland, Sjogren's syndrome

Session Information

Date: Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Title: Sjögrenʼs Syndrome – Basic & Clinical Science Poster I

Session Type: Poster Session (Tuesday)

Session Time: 9:00AM-11:00AM

Background/Purpose: To investigate clinical characteristics of patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) who were negative for anti-Ro/SSA antibody but positive for minor salivary gland biopsy (MSGB) compared to patients who presented positivity for anti-Ro/SSA antibody.

Methods: Data of 355 patients from the Korean Initiative of primary Sjögren’s Syndrome (KISS), a nationwide prospective cohort for primary SS in Korea, were analyzed. All patients fulfilled 2016 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) classification criteria. Of these patients, 326 were positive for anti-Ro/SSA antibody and 29 were antibody-negative, although they had positive findings in MSGB. Various clinical features including all kinds of tests for evaluating secretory function, disease-related clinical indices and serological values available in the cohort were compared between the two groups.

Results: The anti-Ro/SSA negative group showed less rheumatoid factor positivity (p < 0.001), leucopenia (p = 0.003), hypergammaglobulinemia (p < 0.001), lower serum β₂-microglobulin level (p = 0.034), more anti-centromere antibody positivity (p < 0.001), higher score in dryness domain of EULAR SS patient reported index (p = 0.048) and more positivity for peripheral nervous system domain in EULAR SS disease activity index and loss of teeth in SS disease damage index (p = 0.021 and 0.041, respectively) than patients who were positive for anti-Ro/SSA antibody.

Conclusion: Primary SS patients who are negative for anti-Ro/SSA antibody have different clinical characteristics compared to patients who are positive for such antibody in Korea. Therefore, clinicians should consider MSGB in patients with suspicious symptoms who are anti-Ro/SSA negative.

Clinical features of 355 enrolled patients with primary Sjogren’s syndrome

Clinical indices for disease-related systemic activity, extraglandular manifestations and long-term damage

Serological features

Disclosure: Y. Park, None; J. Lee, None; J. Koh, None; Y. Sung, BMS, Eisai, JW pharmaceuticals, Pfizer; S. Lee, None; J. Choe, None; S. Shim, None; J. Kim, None; S. Kwon, None; H. Kim, None; S. Chung, None; W. Kim, None; S. Park, None; S. Kwok, None.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Park Y, Lee J, Koh J, Sung Y, Lee S, Choe J, Shim S, Kim J, Kwon S, Kim H, Chung S, Kim W, Park S, Kwok S. Distinct Clinical Characteristics of Anti-Ro/SSA Negative Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome: Data from a Cohort for Sjögren’s Syndrome in Korea [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2019; 71 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/distinct-clinical-characteristics-of-anti-ro-ssa-negative-primary-sjogrens-syndrome-data-from-a-cohort-for-sjogrens-syndrome-in-korea/. Accessed .

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