Anti-alpha-fodrin autoantibody is an early diagnostic marker for childhood primary Sjögren's syndrome.
OBJECTIVE
alpha-fodrin is a recently identified autoantigen associated with adult primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS). We tested whether anti-alpha-fodrin antibody could also be used as a diagnostic marker for childhood SS.


METHODS
We performed immunoblot analysis of sera from 7 patients with childhood primary SS using glutathione-S-transferase alpha-fodrin fusion protein as an antigen.


RESULTS
Anti-alpha-fodrin antibody was detected in sera from all 7 patients with childhood primary SS, 2 of 4 with secondary SS, and one of 7 with systemic lupus erythematosus, but in no other healthy controls.


CONCLUSIONS
The anti-alpha-fodrin autoantibody was detected before anti-SSA or SSB antibody became positive; thus anti-alpha-fodrin antibody could be a useful marker for the early diagnosis of SS.
Department of Pediatrics, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Pediatric Clinics, Sapporo Kohnan Hospital, Sapporo, Japan. ichikoba@med.hokudai.ac.jp
I
I
Kobayashi
N
N
Kawamura
M
M
Okano
T
T
Shikano
M
M
Mizumoto
Y
Y
Hayashi
K
K
Kobayashi
D000293:Adolescent; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D008297:Male; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology*; D013049:Spectrin
D001323:Autoantibodies; D015415:Biomarkers; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D013049:Spectrin