Primary biliary cirrhosis associated with sjögren's syndrome: evidence for circulating and tissue-deposited ro/anti-ro immune complexes

✍ Scribed by E. Penner; Morris Reichlin

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 385 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780251014

✦ Synopsis

Sjogren'g syndrome is one of the most frequent extrahepatic disease associations of primary biliary cirrhosis, with a reported incidence ranging 69-81% in several large series of patients (1-3). The results of these careful clinical studies are in agreement with immunologic parameters that show sensitization to salivary antigens (4) and appearance of Sjogren'srelated antibody anti-Ro in these patients (5).

This report describes the immunologic features of a patient with primary biliary cirrhosis-Sjogren's syndrome. In this patient, anti-Ro heralded the occurrence of Sjogren's syndrome, and a drop in anti-Ro titer coincided with the development of circulating Ro/ anti-Ro immune complexes (IC), which was followed by parotid deposition of anti-Ro in complexed form. According to the data in this case, there is a possible pathogenic potential for Ro/anti-Ro IC in the development of Sjogren's syndrome.

Methods

Serology. Hepatitis A and B viral markers were detected by means of commercially available radioimmunoassay kits (Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, IL); antibodies specific for nuclei (ANA), smooth muscle, and mitochondria were detected by indirect immunofluores-From the