Anti-α-fodrin autoantibodies are not useful diagnostic markers of primary Sjögren’s syndrome

Fodrin, an actin binding protein found in the cytoskeleton of most eukaryotic cells, would seem to be an important organ-specific autoantigen in Sjogren’s syndrome (SS). Fodrin is, moreover, detected in the salivary glands of patients with primary SS (pSS) but not in controls. It was thus recently claimed that antibodies against α-fodrin are a sensitive and specific serological marker for pSS.1 In this study we investigated the prevalence of autoantibodies against α-fodrin in patients with pSS, as compared with healthy subjects and patients with other autoimmune diseases. The study group included 107 patients with well defined pSS (mean age 57.5 years), 32 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE; mean age 40.1 years), 43 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA; mean age 59.0 years) with no signs of secondary SS, and 48 healthy blood donors (mean age 84.3 years). A diagnosis of SLE, RA, or pSS was …