New biological therapies in Sjogren's syndrome

Primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by dryness and systemic involvement in more than a third of the patients. Patient management has suffered from the lack of effective treatments. However, progresses made in the understanding of pSS pathogenesis have allowed a move to a more targeted approach to therapeutic intervention. Given the key role of chronic B cell activation, B cell-targeted therapies were the first candidate. New pathways are currently investigated including costimulation and ectopic germinal centre formation. In this review, we have summarized the new tools available in clinical research in the field of pSS, the current evidence regarding B cell targeted therapies and an overview of the promising drugs in the pipeline. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.