Prevalences of herpesviruses DNA sequences in salivary gland biopsies from primary and secondary Sjögren's syndrome using degenerated consensus PCR primers.
BACKGROUND
Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune exocrinopathy associated with multiple autoantibodies, lymphocyte infiltration of various organs, and functional deficiency of T cells. Several viruses have been implicated by PCR based studies, but their contribution to the pathophysiology of SS is still controversial.


OBJECTIVE
In an attempt to explore the presence of human herpesviruses DNA sequences in salivary glands biopsies from patients suffering of SS, a recently developed strategy based on PCR with consensus degenerated primers that allowed to detect known and eventually unknown herpesviruses was used.


METHODS
Salivary glands biopsies from 55 patients suffering of primary and SS syndrome were explored by herpesviruses consensus PCR primers and all the PCR products were sequenced.


RESULTS
Nine out of 55 salivary glands were positive by PCR and sequence analyses allowed to identify Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in 6 cases and herpes simplex virus (HSV)-1 in 3 cases. We did not detect any sequences that could be related to a new herpesvirus.


CONCLUSIONS
In view of the good sensitivity of the technique used, our study is not consistent with SS being associated with an unknown herpesvirus. However, our results suggest that EBV and HSV-1 could be implicated in a subset of SS cases and this possibility needs to be explored, to assess the potential benefit of antiviral drugs in some cases.
Perrot
Serge
S
Department of Rheumatology, Paris V University and Tarnier-Cochin Hospital, Paris, France.
Calvez
Vincent
V
Escande
Jean-Paul
JP
Dupin
Nicolas
N
Marcelin
Anne-Geneviève
AG
D001483:Base Sequence; D001706:Biopsy; D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015995:Prevalence; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*
D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral