Rapamycin can alleviate the submandibular gland pathology of Sjögren's syndrome by limiting the activation of cGAS-STING signaling pathway

Background: Sjögren's Syndrome (SS) is also known as autoimmune exocrine gland disease. Previous studies have confirmed that adaptive immunity plays an important role in the development of this disease. But less is known about the role of the innate immune system.

Methods: To identify the core pathways, and local infiltrated immune cells in the local immune microenvironment of SS. We verified the activation of these core genes and core signaling pathways in SS model mice by in vivo experiment and transcriptome sequencing.

Results: Finally, we identified 6 core genes EPSTI1, IFI44L, MX1, CXCL10, IFIT3, and IFI44. All the 6 genes had good diagnostic value. Based on multi-omics sequencing results and experimental studies, we found that cGAS-STING signaling pathway is most relevant to the pathogenesis of SS. By in vivo experiments, we verified that Autophagy is the key brake to limit the activation of cGAS-STING signaling pathway.

Conclusions: Maladaptive activation of Autophagy and cGAS-STING signaling pathway are central contributors to the SG pathogenesis of pSS patient. Regulating Autophagy by rapamycin may be a possible treatment for Sjögren's syndrome in the future.

Autophagy; Bioinformatics; Innate immunity; Sjögren syndrome; cGAS–STING signaling pathway.