Study on mechanism of salivary gland dysfunction in Sjogren's syndrome

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The present study was performed in order to investigate sialographical, histopathological and immunological findings which correlate with salivary gland dysfunction in Sjogren's syndrome (SS). Significant relationship was seen between the reduced function of salivary gland and incidence of SS-related sialographical findings, such as punctate and globular sialectasis. In contrast, no obvious difference in the salivary gland function was noted between the presence and the absence of periductal lymphocytic infiltration in the salivary gland although the occurrence of this histologic finding was associated with so called SS-related immunological abnormality. On the other hand, no obvious difference in the salivary gland function was seen between the presence and the absence of the SS-related immunological abnormality, such as the incidence of rheumatoid factor, anti-nuclear antibody, ant-SS-A antibody and anti-SS-B antibody. Significant relationship was seen, however, between the reduced salivary gland function and decrease of CD4/CD8 ratio in peripheral blood lymphocytes.These results indicate that the salivary gland dysfunction correlates with the incidence of punctate and globular sialectasis. Because it is reported that occurrence of punctate and globular sialectasis are caused by destruction of peripheral ducts of the salivary glands, it is assumed that this histological change is one of the positive factores which result in the reduced salivary gland function in SS.On the other hand , the decrease of CD4/CD8 ratio results from the change of the rates of T cell subsets. The further study should be performed to investigate the underlining mechanism which lead to the change of these rates in SS.