Primary SS is an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic lymphocytic inflammation and ectopic germinal centre (GC) formation within salivary glands. Fractalkine (CX3CL1), associated with the pathogenesis of RA, is the sole member of the CX3C chemokine (CK) family and acts as an adhesion and chemotactic molecule. The objectives of this work are to determine to what extent CX3CL1 and its receptor CX3CR1 expression might be altered in salivary glands obtained from patients and to establish whether these CKs might be involved in SS ectopic lymphoneogenesis.
We assessed the presence of CX3CL1 protein in sera by ELISA in 21 patients with primary SS, 11 patients with Sicca syndrome (Sicca), 20 RA patients and 10 blood donors. Histological evaluation was performed on sequential sections of salivary gland tissue. Using TaqMan RT-PCR we studied CX3CL1 and CX3CR1 mRNA expression in salivary gland tissues from a molecular point of view.
Increased serum levels of CX3CL1 protein were observed in SS patients compared with controls (P < 0.0001) and in RA patients compared with controls (P < 0.0001), but no difference was found between Sicca patients and controls (P = 0.22). We identified histologically the cells expressing CX3CL1 and CX3CR1 in salivary glands of SS patients and we localized the molecule within tertiary lymphoid structures. Finally, the mRNA levels of the CK and its receptor were up-regulated in SS salivary glands.
We believe that our findings point to the need for future studies on CX3CL1 and CX3CR1 proteins as contributors to the formation of ectopic GCs and possibly as a new tool in the evaluation and diagnosis of SS.