Sjögren’s Team for Accelerating Medicines Partnership (STAMP)

The purpose of this study of Sjögren’s disease is to determine its cause, to improve understanding of it, and to help find new therapies. One very important part of this study is to compare the gene expression patterns in the blood cells and tissues of patients with Sjögren’s disease and in controls that do not have Sjögren’s disease in an attempt to gather information regarding the cause(s) of this disease. Learning the cause of Sjögren’s disease is expected to lead to advances that improve the diagnostic tests and therapies for Sjögren’s disease.

Eligible patients include adults who have been diagnosed with Sjögren’s disease, with clinical symptoms strongly suggestive of Sjögren’s disease, or who have participated in the Sjögren’s International Collaborative Clinical Alliance (SICCA) study, or in the OMRF Sjögren’s study between 2004 and 2012.

For more information or to confirm your eligibility, please contact Freena Chaudhry, research coordinator at [email protected] or 410-550-9821.

Role of Neurotrophic Keratitis versus Severity of Tear Film and Ocular Surface Parameters in Determining the Differences in Corneal Structure and Function in Patients with Sjögren’s vs. non-Sjögren’s Dry Eye

Diagnosis of Sjögren’s disease (SjD) among patients with dry eye remains challenging mainly due to the lack of definitive diagnostic tests. This study aims to determine the following:

• Whether dry eye is associated with reduced corneal sensation
• Whether reduced corneal sensation is due to the severity of the dry eye, the type of dry eye (primarily aqueous deficient versus primarily evaporative) or entirely related to the presence of Sjögren’s.
• Whether corneal sensation is associated with ocular or systemic pain symptoms. Additionally, the study aims to compare the novel corneal esthesiometer measurements to confocal biomicroscopy findings in determining neurotrophic keratitis (NK) and assess correlations between corneal sensation and corneal nerves.

Eligible patients include adults with known dry eye (both with or without underlying SjD) as well as age-matched healthy controls with no known history of ocular surface diseases or dry eye or any underlying autoimmune disease.

For more information or to confirm your eligibility, please contact Richard Medina, research technologist at [email protected] or 626-343-3967.

A Multicenter, Observational Study to Evaluate Corneal Neurosensory Abnormalities in Patients with Sjögren’s Dry Eye

Sjögren’s disease is an autoimmune condition typically hallmarked by immunologic attack on the secretory glands, namely the salivary and the lacrimal glands, resulting in symptoms of dry eye and dry mouth, which occur in approximately 98.2% of patients. Our primary objective is to assess the proportion of patients with Sjogren’s dry eye who demonstrate altered corneal sensitivity.

Eligible patients include adults with a confirmed diagnosis of Sjögren’s for a minimum of 3 months, a confirmed history of dry eye for a minimum of 3 months, and clinically significant punctate corneal fluorescein staining.

For more information or to confirm your eligibility, please contact Richard Medina, research technologist at [email protected] or 626-343-3967.

The Role of the Ocular Surface Microbiome in the Pathogenesis of Ocular Rosacea

This study will employ sophisticated techniques to determine the ocular surface microbiome and its associations with the inflammatory response in patients with rosacea. This will help us understand underlying mechanisms and develop better-targeted treatment modalities.

Patients aged 18 years and older with ocular rosacea and healthy subjects with no rosacea will be recruited. Ocular surface microbiome will be investigated through a lid margin swab. Participants will be administered a standardized questionnaire reviewing their ocular and systemic health at baseline. All participants will undergo skin and lid margin assessment followed by dry eye testing.

For more information or to confirm your eligibility, please contact Sezen Karakus, M.D. at [email protected] or 410-955-5080.