Protocols for Experimental Sjögren's Syndrome

Abstract

Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is a systemic autoimmune disease affecting multiple organ systems. Salivary and lacrimal gland involvement cause dry mouth and dry eye and are the most common clinical presentations of the disease. Patients with SS also have autoantibodies targeting multiple nuclear and cytoplasmic antigens. Innate immune activation plays a critical role in SS pathogenesis. This article describes the activation of specific innate immune pathways in mice to study SS salivary gland manifestations. Methodologies for evaluating salivary gland inflammation and salivary function are described. This article also describes protocols for in-house assays to measure autoantibody titers in serum. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC

Basic Protocol 1: Acceleration of Sjögren's syndrome by activating the toll-like receptor 3 pathway

Basic Protocol 2: Induction of Sjögren's syndrome by activating the stimulator of interferon genes pathway

Alternate Protocol: Acceleration of Sjögren's syndrome by the administration of Freund's incomplete adjuvant

Support Protocol 1: Evaluating salivary gland function

Support Protocol 2: Evaluating salivary gland inflammation

Support Protocol 3: Measuring autoantibody titers by indirect immunofluorescence