Work

AI-Guided Histopathological and Molecular Phenotyping of Salivary Glands in Sjögren’s Disease: Subtyping, Mechanistic Insights, and Translational Implications—A Systematic Review and Structured Functional Synthesis

Year: 2026

Type: review

Abstract: BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Salivary-gland biopsy is central to Sjögren's disease (SjD) assessment, but conventional measures incompletely capture glandular heterogeneity. This systematic review evaluated artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) applications to SjD salivary-gland histopathology and molecular profiling, including biological and translational validation. METHODS: PubMed, Scopus, and Embase were searched. Eligible studies used salivary-gland tissue as the primary analytical substrate or provided substantive glandular validation of systemic AI/ML findings. Evidence was synthesized functionally because of methodological heterogeneity. RESULTS: Twenty-five studies were included. AI/ML identified histopathological and molecular phenotypes spanning immune/interferon activation, tissue architecture and immune-cell organization, epithelial stress and metabolic/cell-death remodeling, and translational response. Only a limited subset progressed beyond computational or tissue-level confirmation to functional perturbation, pharmacological testing, in vivo validation, or human treatment-response assessment. Recurrent public-dataset reuse, small cohorts, heterogeneous pipelines, and limited independent validation constrained reproducibility. CONCLUSIONS: AI/ML supports multidimensional SjD glandular phenotyping and shows emerging translational potential, but demonstrated clinical or therapeutic utility remains unestablished. Prospective multicenter validation is required before AI-derived glandular phenotypes can inform routine patient stratification or therapeutic decision-making.

Source: Medical Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/medsci14060677

Authors: Carlos M. Ardila, Eliana Pineda-Vélez, Anny M. Vivares-Builes

Institutions: Universidad de Antioquia, Saveetha University, Institución Universitaria Visión de las Américas

Language: English

Topic: Salivary Gland Disorders and Functions

Subfield: Physiology (medical)

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,689