title: Hepatitis C virus and Sjögren's syndrome: trigger or mimic?
abstract: Patients who have chronic hepatitis C virus infection present some extrahepatic manifestations that may mimic the clinical, immunologic, and histologic manifestations of primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS). Various demographic, clinical, and immunologic features may aid differentiation between the two processes. Chronic hepatitis C virus infection should be considered an exclusion criterion for the classification of primary SS, not because it mimics primary SS, but because the virus may be implicated in the development of SS in a specific subset of patients.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Autoimmune Diseases "Josep Font," IDIBAPS, Department of Autoimmune Diseases, C/Villaroel 170, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona 08036, Spain. mramos@clinic.ub.es
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ramos-Casals
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: Pilar Brito
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Zerón
mesh_terms: D015551:Autoimmunity / Q000276:immunology; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology