{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T06:01:26Z","timestamp":1790834486973,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790812800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001659","name":"Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001659","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Autoimmune diseases such as primary Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s 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).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      We analyzed peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 15 HD, 12 pSjD and 21 SLE patients by mass cytometry. We manually pre-gated viable CD19\n                      <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                      B cells, CD3\n                      <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                      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                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      In the B cell compartment, we identified 13 clusters. SLE patients showed an relative expansion of plasmablasts and two double-negative (IgD\n                      <jats:sup>\u2212<\/jats:sup>\n                      CD27\n                      <jats:sup>\u2212<\/jats:sup>\n                      ) B cell clusters, one CD21\n                      <jats:sup>\u2212<\/jats:sup>\n                      and one CD19\n                      <jats:sup>low<\/jats:sup>\n                      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\n                      <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                      PD-1\n                      <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                      ICOS\n                      <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                      circulating T follicular helper-like cells, and pSjD showed expansion of CD8\n                      <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                      effector memory (Tem) and terminally differentiated (Temra) T cell subsets. Relative innate cell frequencies did not differ substantially between groups, however, intermediate CD226\n                      <jats:sup>hi<\/jats:sup>\n                      monocytes were reduced in SLE but showed higher activation marker expression (CD86, HLA-DR). Network correlation analysis revealed higher immune\u2010cell connectivity in SLE compared to pSjD.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      SLE is characterized by B cell activation, plasmablast expansion, and costimulatory upregulation, while pSjD is mainly defined by alterations in the CD8\n                      <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                      T cell compartment. These disease\u2010specific immunologic signatures highlight distinct patterns in SLE and pSjD and generate hypotheses for future studies investigating targeted therapeutic approaches.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2026.1834700","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T05:42:15Z","timestamp":1790833335000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Single-cell mass cytometry cartography highlights systemic lupus erythematosus and Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s disease immune differences"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Franziska","family":"Szelinski","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum, a Leibniz Institute","place":["Berlin, Germany"]},{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Charit\u00e9 Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin, corporate member 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Duc","family":"Dang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum, a Leibniz Institute","place":["Berlin, Germany"]},{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Charit\u00e9 Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin and Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin","place":["Berlin, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andreas","family":"Frei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Roche Innovation Center Basel","place":["Basel, Switzerland"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andreia C.","family":"Lino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum, a Leibniz Institute","place":["Berlin, Germany"]},{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Charit\u00e9 Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin and Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t zu 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