ABSTRACT
Necrotizing lesions were found in labial salivary glands from patients bearing Sjögren's syndrome associated to rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus. In small and well circumscribed areas, parenchyma necrosis was accompanied by oedema, polymorphs and plasma cells. Immunoglobulins and complement deposition was demonstrated in serial sections. The immunological basis of these lesions and their significance in Sjögren's syndrome are discussed.
Subject(s)
Salivary Glands/pathology , Sjogren's Syndrome/pathology , Autoimmune Diseases/immunology , Complement C3/analysis , Humans , Immunoglobulins/analysis , Necrosis , Sjogren's Syndrome/immunologyABSTRACT
The labial salivary glands from seventy patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (twenty cases), systemic progressive sclerosis (twenty-two cases), rheumatoid arthritis (twenty-three cases), and Sjögren's syndrome (five cases) and from fifty subjects without connective tissue diseases were studied by means of light and fluorescence microscopy. The availability of the lip biopsy as a diagnostic tool is stressed, but a differential diagnosis between the different connective tissue diseases was not achieved. Yet some of the latter disclosed peculiar lesions. The role of the inflammatory and degenerative components, as well as the pathogenesis of the lesions, is discussed.
