Comparison of serum levels of inflammatory marker Calprotectin, indicating intestinal inflammation, in patients with Sjögren´s syndrome versus patients with IBD, and detection of autoreactive T cells
(2015) MOBM01 20142Degree Projects in Molecular Biology
- Abstract
- Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) is a chronic autoimmune disease with exocrine glands dysfunction and multi organ involvement. Sicca symptoms such as xerophthalmia and xerostomia are the most common features in this disease. Increased intestinal permeability has been demonstrated in various autoimmune disorders, and Calprotectin, a protein released by neutrophils and monocytes due to cell stress or damage, is used as a biomarker in gastrointestinal disorders. In the present study we investigated intestinal inflammation in Sjögren’s syndrome patients by measuring Calprotectin concentration in serum samples of these patients. Calprotectin concentration was measured by ELISA in serum samples of patients with Sjögren’s syndrome, serum samples of... (More)
- Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) is a chronic autoimmune disease with exocrine glands dysfunction and multi organ involvement. Sicca symptoms such as xerophthalmia and xerostomia are the most common features in this disease. Increased intestinal permeability has been demonstrated in various autoimmune disorders, and Calprotectin, a protein released by neutrophils and monocytes due to cell stress or damage, is used as a biomarker in gastrointestinal disorders. In the present study we investigated intestinal inflammation in Sjögren’s syndrome patients by measuring Calprotectin concentration in serum samples of these patients. Calprotectin concentration was measured by ELISA in serum samples of patients with Sjögren’s syndrome, serum samples of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) with known increased intestinal permeability. Serum samples of healthy individuals were used as negative controls. As expected, we found higher levels of Calprotectin in serum samples from patients suffering from UC and CD. We have also shown increased levels of serum Calprotectin in samples of SS patients but with lower concentration compared to IBD patients. Furthermore, since a sensitive and specific diagnostic method is lacking for Sjögren’s syndrome, we have optimized an assay that could be used as a diagnostic tool for detection of disease specific T cells. The assay was evaluated using cells from experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mice, an established animal model for human multiple sclerosis (MS). (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- Popular science summary
Autoimmunity occurs when the immune system loses its ability to distinguish between self and foreign antigens. In autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks the healthy tissues by mistake. The prevalence and incidence of autoimmune diseases is on the rise and numerous research works are being conducted by scientists all over the world in order to identify the causes of these disorders and also to find more effective treatments. Recent studies have shown that there is a correlation between autoimmune diseases and increased intestinal permeability. Increased intestinal permeability leads to increased antigen uptake causing immunologically mediated gastrointestinal disorders and inflammation. Calprotectin, a... (More) - Popular science summary
Autoimmunity occurs when the immune system loses its ability to distinguish between self and foreign antigens. In autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks the healthy tissues by mistake. The prevalence and incidence of autoimmune diseases is on the rise and numerous research works are being conducted by scientists all over the world in order to identify the causes of these disorders and also to find more effective treatments. Recent studies have shown that there is a correlation between autoimmune diseases and increased intestinal permeability. Increased intestinal permeability leads to increased antigen uptake causing immunologically mediated gastrointestinal disorders and inflammation. Calprotectin, a calcium-binding protein secreted by white blood cells, especially neutrophils and monocytes, due to cell stress or damage, is a biomarker of inflammation in gastrointestinal disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and also some autoimmune disorders.
Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disease in which moisture-producing glands particularly the salivary and lacrimal glands are affected. Dryness of mouth and eyes are the most frequent symptoms of this disease. Although early diagnosis of Sjögren’s syndrome and timely detection of progression are very important, there is a lack of sensitive and specific diagnostic method for this disease.
Since specific serologic markers are needed to diagnose and assess disease activity and also in order to investigate probable gut inflammation in Sjögren’s syndrome, in the present study Calprotectin concentration was measured in serum samples of healthy individuals (as negative controls), IBD patients (as positive controls), and patients with Sjögren’s syndrome. We showed that serum Calprotectin levels in patients with Sjögren’s syndrome were higher than healthy controls but less than IBD. Our results indicate that there might be an inflammation in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of the SS patients although not as severe as in IBD. In another part of this study and in order to establish a novel diagnostic method for Sjögren’s syndrome, we have optimized an assay that could be used to detect disease specific T cells easily. For this purpose cells from an animal model for an autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis (MS) were used and a protocol for detection of autoreactive T cells was established.
Supervisor: Shahram Lavasani, PhD
Master’s Degree Project in Molecular Biology, 30 credits 2015
Department of Biology, Lund University (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/5471059
- author
- Rahdar, Shabnam
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MOBM01 20142
- year
- 2015
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 5471059
- date added to LUP
- 2015-06-10 13:38:08
- date last changed
- 2015-06-10 13:38:08
@misc{5471059,
abstract = {{Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) is a chronic autoimmune disease with exocrine glands dysfunction and multi organ involvement. Sicca symptoms such as xerophthalmia and xerostomia are the most common features in this disease. Increased intestinal permeability has been demonstrated in various autoimmune disorders, and Calprotectin, a protein released by neutrophils and monocytes due to cell stress or damage, is used as a biomarker in gastrointestinal disorders. In the present study we investigated intestinal inflammation in Sjögren’s syndrome patients by measuring Calprotectin concentration in serum samples of these patients. Calprotectin concentration was measured by ELISA in serum samples of patients with Sjögren’s syndrome, serum samples of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) with known increased intestinal permeability. Serum samples of healthy individuals were used as negative controls. As expected, we found higher levels of Calprotectin in serum samples from patients suffering from UC and CD. We have also shown increased levels of serum Calprotectin in samples of SS patients but with lower concentration compared to IBD patients. Furthermore, since a sensitive and specific diagnostic method is lacking for Sjögren’s syndrome, we have optimized an assay that could be used as a diagnostic tool for detection of disease specific T cells. The assay was evaluated using cells from experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mice, an established animal model for human multiple sclerosis (MS).}},
author = {{Rahdar, Shabnam}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Comparison of serum levels of inflammatory marker Calprotectin, indicating intestinal inflammation, in patients with Sjögren´s syndrome versus patients with IBD, and detection of autoreactive T cells}},
year = {{2015}},
}