title: Posttranslational Protein Modification in the Salivary Glands of Sjögren's Syndrome Patients.
abstract: The present study investigated posttranslational reactions in the salivary glands of patients with Sjögren's syndrome. We analysed the biopsies of primary Sjögren's patients using immunohistochemistry and a tag-purified anticyclic citrullinated protein (CCP) antibody to detect citrullinated peptides, and the presence of peptidylarginine deiminase 2 (PAD2) was assessed simultaneously. The present work demonstrated the weak presence of the PAD2 enzyme in some normal salivary glands, although PAD2 expression was increased considerably in Sjögren's patients. The presence of citrullinated proteins was also detected in the salivary tissues of Sjögren's patients, which strongly supports the in situ posttranslational modification of proteins in this setting. Furthermore, the mutual expression of CCP and PAD2 suggests that this posttranslational modification is enzyme dependent. In conclusion, patients with Sjögren's syndrome expressed the catalytic machinery to produce posttranslational reactions that may result in autoantigen triggering.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Biological Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Chepinque 306, Colonia Lomas de la Soledad, 98040 Zacatecas, ZAC, Mexico.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Herrera-Esparza
authors.forename: Mayra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Rodríguez
authors.forename: María Elena
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Pérez-Pérez
authors.forename: Martha Adriana
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Badillo-Soto
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Torres-Del-Muro
authors.forename: Juan José
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Bollain-Y-Goytia
authors.forename: Deyanira
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pacheco-Tovar
authors.forename: Esperanza
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Avalos-Díaz