Sex Steroids in Sjögren's Syndrome: Effect of Substitution Treatment on Fatigue
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
2009-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Our research contributes to the understanding of some of the basic biology of the salivary
glands. The etiology and many of the pathomechanisms of Sjögren's syndrome are unknown. In
particular, reasons for the female dominance, late age of onset, fatigue and the prominent
involvement of exocrine glands are unknown. We hypothesize, due to the disease
characteristics, that the primary target hit by the disease process is the secretory acinar
cell and that this cell is particularly damaged in women due to insufficient support,
normally provided by dehydroepiandrosterone and its intracrine processing.