Sjögren's syndrome and the gut

Sjögren's syndrome is the result of lymphocyte-mediated destruction of exocrine glands that leads to diminished or absent glandular secretions and mucosal dryness. The manifestations from the alimentary system in patients with Sjögren's syndrome include, within the mouth, mucosal dryness, atrophy, accelerated dental decay and enlargement of the major salivary glands. Dysphagia is a common complaint and is probably secondary to oesophageal dysfunction. The symptoms from gastric involvement are nausea, epigastric pain and dyspepsia which might be attributable to chronic atrophic gastritis. Whether the small bowel is affected in Sjögren's syndrome patients is not clear. However, nutritional deficiencies have been noted in these patients. Pancreatic involvement is perhaps expressed as subclinical, acute or chronic pancreatitis, and finally there have been a large number of studies dealing with liver involvement in Sjögren's syndrome. From these reports it is clear that many patients with Sjögren's syndrome have abnormal biochemical liver function tests and some of them may also have abnormal liver biopsy. The pathogenic process responsible for the hepatic damage and for the salivary gland destruction could be similar.