Gender differences in clinical and immunological characteristics and the pathogenic study of primary Sj(o)gren's syndrome / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical and immunological features of primary Sj(o)gren's syndrome (pSS) in both sexs,and to find out the pathophysiology of pSS.Methods Clinical data of 110 pSS cases were analyzed retrospectively,and cytokine levels of interleukin (IL)-2,IL-4,IL-6,IL-10,IL-17A,Tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α,interferon (IFN)-α were measured (male=20,female=90) in patients and healthy controls (n=30) using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results Compared with female patients,no significant difference was found in male patientsin symptoms of dry mouth and dry eye (90.0％ vs 98.9％,x2=4.874,P＞0.05);the frequency of parotid gland enlargement and lymphadenectasis were higher in male (40.0％ vs 5.6％,x2=18.629,P＜0.01;25.0％ vs 6.7％,x3=6.111,P＜0.05);and the level of immunoglobu lin (Ig)A and C4 [2.2(1.5,3.0) g/L vs 3.3(2.5,5.0) g/L,Z=-3.119,P＜0.01;(0.15±0.05) g/L vs (0.19±0.08) g/L,t=-2.659,P＜0.05] were lower in male,as well as the incidence of positive anti SSA/SSB antibodies (55.0％ vs 78.8％,x2=4.921,P＜0.05).Cytokine levels of IL-2,IL-6,TNF-α (t=-3.783,-6.193,-2.065,P＜0.05) were higher in pSS than HC.Compared with female patients,cytokine levels of IL-10,IFN-γ (t=-1.075,6.286,P＜0.05) were higher in male,however,the levels of IL-2,TNF-o (t=-3.472,-5.867,P＜0.01) were lower in male.Conclusion There are differences in the cytokine levels secreted from Thl and Th2 cell between male and female patients of pSS,which may relate to the clinical and immunological characteristics and can help to reveal the pathophysiology of pSS.