VIRAL STUDIES IN RHEUMATIC DISEASE

Rheumatic disease has long been thought to represent an interaction be tween environmental agents on a background of genetic susceptibility. In this review herpesviruses and retroviruses are considered as possib le aetiological agents in autoimmune disease with a particular emphasi s on Sjogren's syndrome, A possible role for cytomegalovirus, Epstein- Barr virus (EBV), human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) and human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) is reviewed. We conclude that there is no compelling evidence for the involvement of any of these herpesviruses. Retroviruses, howev er, are attracting increasing interest. In Man, both Human immunodefic iency virus (HIV) and human T lymphotropic virus type I(HTLV-I) infect ions cause autoimmune phenomena, including Sjogren's syndrome and arth ritis in a minority of infected individuals, Similar reactions to retr oviral infection are also seen in animal models, A possible role for t he newly described human retrovirus-5 (HRV-5) is discussed, though cur rent evidence does not support a role in Sjogren's syndrome, Other aut oimmune diseases are under investigation.