Sjögren's disease & overlap diseases
Functional insights into autoantibodies targeting muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in Sjögren’s disease
Authors' conclusion
The association between autoantibodies targeting M1R to M5R in patients with SjD and their functional quantification provides strong evidence that autoantibodies against all muscarinic receptor isotypes may have pathogenic relevance in SjD.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with Sjögren's disease (SjD), with healthy controls (HCs), NSS and other autoimmune diseases (AIDs) as controls
- Participants
- 347 / 50 / 44 / 67
- Exposure
- SjD vs HCs, NSS and other AIDs
- SjDn = 347
- HCsn = 50reference
- NSSn = 44
- AIDsn = 67
- Outcome
- Serum autoantibodies against all muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes (ELISA)
Methodological detailscase-control comparison, ELISA, functional in vitro assays (calcium mobilisation, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) accumulation) in transfected Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells
- Case-control comparison
- ELISA
- Functional in vitro assays (calcium mobilisation, cAMP accumulation) in transfected CHO cells
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
IgG autoantibodies against M1R to M5R
- Detected in up to 30% of SjD patients
- SjD vs HCs: P ≤ 0.05
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Combination of anti-M2R, anti-M3R and anti-M5R in Ro/SSA-negative SjD
- Ro/SSA-negative SjD cases identified (up to)
- 31%
- Specificity, SjD vs HCs
- 96%
- Specificity, SjD vs NSS
- 75%
Functional effect of purified IgG (SjD n = 10 vs HCs n = 10) in transfected CHO cells
- SjD IgG reduced calcium flux in M1R-, M3R- and M5R-expressing cells by up to
- 30%
- Effects on cAMP accumulation in M2R-transfected cells absent
Original publication
Functional insights into autoantibodies targeting muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in Sjögren’s disease. Ann Rheum Dis. Published 10 July 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →