A double-blind, cross-over, study of oral N-acetylcysteine in Sjögren's syndrome.
Twenty-six patients with primary or secondary Sjögren's syndrome were treated in a double-blind, cross-over trial for a four week period with oral N-Acetylcysteine and placebo. Before treatment there were significantly elevated salivary lactoferrin levels in the patients when compared to 51 healthy controls (p = 0.0005), and significantly decreased levels of tear lysozyme when compared to 24 controls (p = 0.0003). Salivary sodium, potassium, inorganic phosphate, amylase and immunoglobulin G, A or M levels were not significantly different from control values. After treatment with N-Acetylcysteine, Sjögren's syndrome patients reported improvements in ocular soreness (p = 0.004), ocular irritability (p = 0.006), halitosis (p = 0.033) and daytime thirst (p = 0.033). N-Acetylcysteine, but not placebo improved the van Bijsterveld score (p = 0.026), but neither agent improved the Schirmer test, the tear break up time or any of the laboratory tests. These results suggest that N-Acetylcysteine may have a true therapeutic effect on the ocular symptoms of Sjögren's syndrome and be worthy of a longer study.
Walters
M T
MT
Rubin
C E
CE
Keightley
S J
SJ
Ward
C D
CD
Cawley
M I
MI
D000111:Acetylcysteine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000284:Administration, Oral; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy*
D000111:Acetylcysteine