title: The future of biologic agents in the treatment of Sjögren's syndrome.
abstract: The gain in knowledge regarding the cellular mechanisms of T and B lymphocyte activity in the pathogenesis of Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and the current availability of various biological agents (anti-TNF-alpha, IFN- alpha, anti-CD20, and anti-CD22) have resulted in new strategies for therapeutic intervention. In SS, various phase I and II studies have been performed to evaluate these new strategies. Currently, B cell-directed therapies seem to be more promising than T cell-related therapies. However, large, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials are needed to confirm the promising results of these early studies. When performing these trials, special attention has to be paid to prevent the occasional occurrence of the severe side effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. j.m.meijer@kchir.umcg.nl
authors.forename: Jiska M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Meijer
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pijpe
authors.forename: Hendrika
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bootsma
authors.forename: Arjan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vissink
authors.forename: Cees G M
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Kallenberg
mesh_terms: D001685:Biological Factors / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001691:Biological Therapy / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D001685:Biological Factors