Sjogren's syndrome and hepatitis C virus

Sjogren's Syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disease that mainly affects exocri ne glands and usually presents as a persistent dryness of the mouth and eye s. The spectrum of the disease extends from an organ-specific autoimmune di sease to a systemic process. Viral infection has long been suspected as a p otential cause of SS because several viruses have been incriminated in the aetiology of this disease, and a possible relationship between SS and hepat itits C virus (HCV) was postulated in 1992. In this paper, we review the li terature concerning SS and HCV infection and summarise the current knowledg e regarding their association and their pathogenic, clinical and immunologi cal significances. The main conclusions of this review are that the prevale nce of antibodies to HCV in patients with primary SS ranges between 14 and 19% using third-generation ELISA, chronic HCV infection may mimic the main clinical, histological and immunologic features of 'primary' SS and, finall y, testing for HCV infection must be performed in patients with SS, especia lly in those patients with evidence of liver involvement or associated cryo globulinaemia. HCV seems to be a rare cause of 'primary' SS in the absence of recognised Liver disease or cryoglobulinaemia.