[Immunopathology of Gougerot-Sjogren syndrome]

Sjögren's syndrome presents as an autoimmune exocrinopathy, and the term autoimmune epitheliitis has recently been coined. The major lesion is a lymphocyte infiltrate affecting the salivary glands and consisting predominantly of activated CD4+ T cells. The remaining 20% B lymphocytes, first polyclonal, turn out to be monoclonal. Epithelial cells are endowed with a key-part in the play, inasmuch as they gather together most of the Sjögren's syndrome-specific target autoantigens within apoptotic bodies, and possess all the characteristics of antigen presenting cells. There appears to be every likelihood that the sequence is triggered off by a thus far unknown virus.