The Positivity for Anti-centromere Antibody Makes Distinct Clinical Features in Primary Sjogren’s Syndrome : Data from a Prospective Korean Nation-wide Cohort

Abstract

Background/Purpose: To clarify clinical features of primary Sjogren’s syndrome (SS) patients who show the positivity for anti-centromere antibody in Korea.

Methods: We assessed 318 patients who met 2016 American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) classification criteria for primary SS. All patients were selected from the Korean Initiative of Primary Sjogren Syndrome (KISS), a prospective cohort. Among them, 53 patients were positive for anti-centromere antibody, while other 265 patients were not. We compared two groups in various clinical data including demographic features, extraglandular manifestations, clinical indices and laboratory values available from KISS database.

Results: The anti-centromere-positive SS group showed higher median age (p = 0.042), xerostomia inventory scores (p = 0.040), anti-nuclear antibody and anti-topoisomerase antibody positivity (p < 0.001, p = 0.006, respectively), more frequent Raynaud’s phenomenon and liver involvement (p < 0.001, p = 0.002, respectively). On the other hand, less frequency of leukopenia (p = 0.021), rheumatoid factor and anti-Ro/SSA antibody positivity (p < 0.001, both), and hypergammaglobulinemia (p = 0.006) were observed in this SS group.

Conclusion: Distinguishing clinical features were discerned in primary SS patients with the positivity for anti-centromere antibody compared to patients without the antibody. This primary SS subset should be investigated further in future studies.