Decreased human paraoxonase-1 activity in patients with Sjögren's syndrome

The aim of the study was to examine human serum paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activity, phenotype distribution and lipid parameters in patients with Sjögren's syndrome. The prevalence of cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases in SS patients was also evaluated after a 5-year follow-up.

Fifty-seven SS patients and 17 age-matched healthy controls were enrolled into the study. PON1 and arylesterase activities were measured spectrophotometrically. The phenotype distribution of PON1 was determined by the dual-substrate method.

Significantly lower PON1 activity was found in patients with SS compared with the control group (98.00 +/- 69.21 versus 203.3 +/- 92.78 U ml(-1); P < 0.001). There were significant differences in PON1 phenotype distribution of SS patients and controls (AA/AB/BB: 91.2/8.8/0 versus 58.8/29.4/11.8%; P < 0.01). No significant correlations were found between PON activity and disease-characteristic autoantibodies, including anti-Ro/SS-A and anti-La/SS-B concentrations. PON activity did not predict the cerebro/cardiovascular risk in SS patients during the 5-year follow-up.

Despite the relatively small sample size that reduces the power of the study, decreased PON activity may be a possible cardiovascular risk factor in SS. Disadvantageous PON1 phenotype distribution may contribute to the decreased PON activity in these patients.