title: Sjögren's syndrome: an update on epidemiology and current insights on pathophysiology.
abstract: Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is an autoimmune chronic inflammatory disorder affecting 0.2% to 3.0% of the population, with a 9:1 female to male ratio. Features are oral and ocular dryness, local and systemic autoantibody production, and progressive focal mononuclear cell infiltration in the affected salivary and lacrimal glands. Lymphoma is the most severe complication of pSS, occurring in 4% to 5% of patients. Genetic studies identified an association with HLA and susceptibility genes in cytokine genes and genes involved in B-cell differentiation. Genetic variations may help explain why disease manifestations differ among patients and supports the hypothesis of certain distinct disease phenotypes.
authors.affiliation: Broegelmann Research Laboratory, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, The Laboratory Building, 5th Floor, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen N-5021, Norway.
authors.forename: Tove R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Reksten
authors.forename: Malin V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Jonsson
mesh_terms: D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D016207:Cytokines
keywords: Autoimmune diseases; Epidemiology; Inflammatory disorder; Pathogenesis; Primary Sjögren's syndrome; Salivary glands; pSS