{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,11]],"date-time":"2026-05-11T18:15:14Z","timestamp":1778523314332,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,11]],"date-time":"2026-05-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1778457600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Primary Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s disease is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by chronic inflammation of exocrine glands and heterogeneous clinical manifestations. There remains a need for objective, non-invasive biomarkers that reflect local glandular involvement and disease-related immune activity. Methods: This observational cross-sectional case\u2013control study included 34 patients fulfilling the 2016 ACR\/EULAR classification criteria for primary Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s disease and 34 healthy controls between December 2024 and February 2025. Unstimulated whole-saliva samples were collected in the morning using the passive drool method, and salivary galectin-9 concentrations were measured via the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Disease activity and symptom burden were assessed using validated indices, and receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to evaluate discriminatory performance. Results: Salivary galectin-9 levels were significantly higher in patients with primary Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s disease compared with healthy controls. However, no significant associations were observed between salivary galectin-9 levels and disease activity scores after correction for multiple comparisons, nor with patient-reported symptoms, autoantibody profiles, Schirmer test results, or minor salivary gland biopsy findings. Salivary galectin-9 demonstrated limited discriminative ability between patients and controls. Conclusions: Salivary galectin-9 levels were elevated in primary Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s disease and may be associated with local glandular immune processes. Further prospective studies are needed to determine their clinical relevance.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm15103684","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,11]],"date-time":"2026-05-11T17:17:42Z","timestamp":1778519862000},"page":"3684","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Salivary Galectin-9 Levels in Primary Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s Disease: An Observational Cross-Sectional Case\u2013Control Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-5911-6864","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elif","family":"\u0130nan\u00e7","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Van Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, 65300 Van, Turkey"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8516-9769","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Servet","family":"Yolba\u015f","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Inonu University, 44280 Malatya, Turkey"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5730-2286","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sezgin","family":"Zontul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Rheumatology, Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Inonu University, 44280 Malatya, Turkey"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Fuat","family":"Albayram","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Inonu University, 44280 Malatya, Turkey"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mesude Seda","family":"Aydo\u011fdu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Malatya Training and Research Hospital, 44330 Malatya, Turkey"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2048-0721","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zeynep","family":"Kaya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, 34098 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Faruk","family":"Di\u015fli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Bingol University, 12000 Bingol, Turkey"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3278-7779","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cihat","family":"U\u00e7ar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Malatya Turgut Ozal University, 44210 Malatya, Turkey"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.1007\/s10238-021-00728-6","article-title":"Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s syndrome: A systemic autoimmune disease","volume":"22","author":"Negrini","year":"2022","journal-title":"Clin. 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