ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.

Sec. Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders : Autoimmune Disorders

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1623774

CD226 + B Cells in Primary Sjögren's Syndrome: A Key Player in Clinical Manifestations and Disease Pathogenesis

Provisionally accepted
萍 Zhao萍 Zhao1,2Saizhe SongSaizhe Song1Song ZhangSong Zhang2Cheng PengCheng Peng3Wei ChengWei Cheng4Xin ChangXin Chang1,3Changhao XieChanghao Xie2*Zhongli HuZhongli Hu5*Cuiping LiuCuiping Liu1*
  • 1Jiangsu Institute of Clinical Immunology & Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Clinical Immunology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
  • 2Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical University, Bengbu, China
  • 3Department of Rheumatology, The First Afffliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China, Suzhou, China
  • 4Department of Dermatology, Changshu No 2 People's Hospital, Suzhou, China
  • 5Department of Haematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical University, Bengbu, China

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The costimulatory molecule CD226 has emerged as a key regulator of immune responses, yet its role in B cell-mediated pathogenesis of primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) remains poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to explore the relevance between CD226 + B cells and clinical features in pSS patients and to clarify the potential role of CD226-mediated B cell biological functions in contributing to the pathogenesis of pSS.Here, we identified a distinct CD226 + CD19 + B cell subset that exhibited pathogenic features in pSS. CD226 was significantly upregulated on B cells in the peripheral blood and salivary glands of pSS patients.CD226 + CD19 + B cell showed a stronger correlation with clinical features, disease activity, and prognosis in pSS patients.The ROC curve demonstrated that CD226 + CD19 + B cell exhibited significant diagnostic capability to distinguish pSS patients from healthy controls and to differentiate disease activity.This subset also exhibited heightened activation and pro-inflammatory phenotypes.Thereby,CD226 + B cell may potentially be a promising therapeutic target and biomarker for the treatment of pSS.

Keywords: CD226, costimulatory molecule, B cells, Cytokines, primary Sjögren's syndrome

Received: 06 May 2025; Accepted: 10 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Zhao, Song, Zhang, Peng, Cheng, Chang, Xie, Hu and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Changhao Xie, Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical University, Bengbu, China
Zhongli Hu, Department of Haematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical University, Bengbu, China
Cuiping Liu, Jiangsu Institute of Clinical Immunology & Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Clinical Immunology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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