Monoclonal antibodies to epithelioid cells in lip biopsy in sarcoidosis

The phenotype of infiltrating and residual cells in biopsies of minor salivary glands from patients with sarcoidosis and from normal controls, were studied using a sensitive two-step indirect immunoperoxidase technique. We found that infiltrating lymphocytes were practically absent from salivary gland biopsies in the control group, but that in the Sarcoid group the numerous infiltrating lymphocytes consisted mainly of T-lymphocytes, mostly T-helper cells (CD4+ cells). These data correlate positively with other studies on lymphocytic infiltration in other organs involved in the immunopathology of sarcoidosis, e.g. the lung. In our study the glandular epithelial cells in the salivary gland biopsies were HLA-DR positive in the patients with sarcoidosis, especially in those specimens from patients with active disease in which 50-80% of the epithelial cells expressed an HLA-DR antigen. We observed a positive relationship between HLA-DR positive epithelial cells, the expression of interleukin-2 receptors (IL-2R) and the density of lymphocytic infiltrates. This is in accordance with other chronic, lymphocytic infiltratory diseases with HLA-DR positive epithelial expression, such as Sjögren's syndrome involving salivary glands. This suggests that there might be a common denominator causing disease in these cases.