{
  "abstract": "Objectives: Autoimmune diseases such as primary Sjögren’s disease (pSjD) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) share clinical and serological features, including type I interferon signatures, autoantibody formation, and chronic inflammation, but the underlying immunopathology is not the same. To support the development of targeted therapies, we aimed to systematically characterize disease-specific alterations in peripheral immune cell subsets of pSjD and SLE compared to healthy donors (HD).\n\nMethods: We analyzed peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 15 HD, 12 pSjD and 21 SLE patients by mass cytometry. We manually pre-gated viable CD19 ⁺ B cells, CD3 ⁺ T cells, and innate immune populations before performing high-dimensional, consensus clustering. We compared relative subset frequencies and marker expression, including costimulatory and inhibitory receptors, between the three cohorts.\n\nResults: In the B cell compartment, we identified 13 clusters. SLE patients showed an relative expansion of plasmablasts and two double-negative (IgD ⁻ CD27 ⁻ ) B cell clusters, one CD21 ⁻ and one CD19 low with high IgA. Both had an activated phenotype with elevated CD38, CD86, and Ki-67. In SLE, the costimulatory molecules CD86 and CD226 were upregulated on memory and DN B cells. By contrast, B cell changes in pSjD were more modest. We found 12 T cells clusters. Both diseases had increased CD4 ⁺ PD-1 ⁺ ICOS ⁺ circulating T follicular helper-like cells, and pSjD showed expansion of CD8 ⁺ effector memory (Tem) and terminally differentiated (Temra) T cell subsets. Relative innate cell frequencies did not differ substantially between groups, however, intermediate CD226 hi monocytes were reduced in SLE but showed higher activation marker expression (CD86, HLA-DR). Network correlation analysis revealed higher immune‐cell connectivity in SLE compared to pSjD.\n\nConclusion: SLE is characterized by B cell activation, plasmablast expansion, and costimulatory upregulation, while pSjD is mainly defined by alterations in the CD8 ⁺ T cell compartment. These disease‐specific immunologic signatures highlight distinct patterns in SLE and pSjD and generate hypotheses for future studies investigating targeted therapeutic approaches.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum, a Leibniz Institute , ,",
    "Roche Innovation Center Basel , ,"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 10,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Franziska Szelinski"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ana-Luisa Stefanski"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Annika Wiedemann"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Hector Rincon-Arevalo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Eva Schrezenmeier"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Tobias Alexander"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Van Duc Dang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Andreas Frei"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Andreia C. Lino"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Thomas Dörner"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5mgv6y7t51adb.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fimmu.2026.1834700",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13669203/?tool=EBI",
  "id": "5mgv6y7t51adb",
  "issns": [
    "1664-3224"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13669203",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2745|Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7215120890",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13669203/pdf/?tool=EBI",
  "pmcid": "PMC13669203",
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5mgv6y7t51adb.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:18Z",
      "native_id": "PMC:PMC13669203",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13669203"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:15Z",
      "native_id": "10.3389/fimmu.2026.1834700",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2026.1834700/full"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "issn:1664-3224",
      "subfield": "immunology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Single-cell mass cytometry cartography highlights systemic lupus erythematosus and Sjögren’s disease immune differences",
  "title_text": "Single-cell mass cytometry cartography highlights systemic lupus erythematosus and Sjögren’s disease immune differences",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:15Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5mgv6y7t51adb",
  "venue": "Frontiers in immunology",
  "versions": []
}