PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Efstathia K.  Kapsogeorgou
AU  - Maria I.  Christodoulou
AU  - Demosthenes B.  Panagiotakos
AU  - Spyros Paikos
AU  - Anna Tassidou
AU  - Athanasios G.  Tzioufas
AU  - Haralampos M.  Moutsopoulos
TI  - Minor Salivary Gland Inflammatory Lesions in Sjögren Syndrome: Do They Evolve?
AID  - 10.3899/jrheum.130256
DP  - 2013 Aug 01
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - jrheum.130256
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2013/07/23/jrheum.130256.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2013/07/23/jrheum.130256.full
AB  - Objective The lymphocytic infiltrates of minor salivary gland (MSG) lesions of Sjögren syndrome (SS) vary in grade and composition and are generally thought to develop in stepwise manner. Their progression over time is not well defined. Methods We studied repetitive MSG biopsy specimens from 28 patients with primary SS. Results The infiltration grade and prevalence of the major infiltrating cell types (T and B cells, macrophages, dendritic cells, natural killer cells) remained largely unchanged during a median 55 month biopsy time interval followup (quartiles 42–81). Conclusion We found significant disease progression involving the development of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma in patients expressing adverse serologic prognostic factors, such as low serum C4 complement levels and cryoglobulinemia.