[Histological examination in Sjögren's syndrome. Relationship between sialography and histological examination]

Although the etiology of Sjögren's syndrome (SJS) remains unknown, Sjögren's syndrome can be diagnosed by means of clinical features and sialographic and histopathological examinations. In this study of 35 patients with primary SJS and 21 with secondary SJS, two parameters, (the findings of sialography of parotid gland and the histopathology of labial minor salivary gland), were evaluated. Then it was concluded that grade of lesion in sialography was parallel to infiltrative grade of round cells around labial salivary gland in primary SJS but not in secondary SJS. Using monoclonal antibodies to cell surface antigens, lymphocyte subsets in 16 patients with primary SJS and 4 patients with secondary SJS were studied. A predominance of T cells was found and there was no definitive characterization of lymphocyte subset infiltration, between CD4 positive cell and CD8 positive cell. This result was different from the previous reports, and needs further studies.