title: Is Sjögren's syndrome a retroviral disease?
abstract: Circumstantial evidence suggests that retroviruses play a role in the pathogenesis of Sjögren's syndrome. Such evidence, derived from studies of patients with Sjögren's syndrome, includes the following: the presence of serum antibodies cross-reactive with retroviral Gag proteins; the occurrence of reverse transcriptase activity in salivary glands; the detection of retroviral antigens, retrovirus-like particles, or novel retroviral sequences in salivary glands; the occurrence of Sjögren's syndrome-like illnesses in patients having confirmed systematic infections with retroviruses such as human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) and human T lymphotropic virus type 1; and the beneficial effect of anti-retroviral treatment on the occurrence of HIV-1-associated sicca syndrome. Additional evidence is provided by animal models.
authors.affiliation: Pathophysiology Department, Laikon General Hospital and Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Mikras Asias 75, Athens-11527, Greece. nsipsas@med.uoa.gr
authors.forename: Nikolaos V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Sipsas
authors.forename: Maria N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Gamaletsou
authors.forename: Haralampos M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Moutsopoulos
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000150:complications*; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000821:virology*