The clinical relevance of animal models in Sjögren’s syndrome: the interferon signature from mouse to man

Mouse models have been widely used to elucidate the pathogenic mechanisms of human diseases. The advantages of using these models include the ability to study different stages of the disease with particular respect to specific target organs, to focus on the role of specific pathogenic factors and to investigate the effect of possible therapeutic interventions. Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) is a systemic autoimmune disease, characterised by lymphocytic infiltrates in the salivary and lacrimal glands. To date, effective therapy is not available and treatment has been mainly symptomatic. Ongoing studies in murine models are aimed at developing more effective and targeted therapies in SS. The heterogeneity of SS will most probably benefit from optimising therapies, tailored to specific subgroups of the disease. In this review, we provide our perspective on the importance of subdividing SS patients according to their interferon signature, and recommend choosing appropriate mouse models for interferon-positive and interferon-negative SS subtypes. Murine models better resembling human-disease phenotypes will be essential in this endeavour.