Current concepts on diagnosis, autoantibodies and therapy in Sjogren's syndrome

Sjogren's syndrome is a chronic autoimmune and rheumatic disorder. Most pat ients have mild to moderate complaints and this may explain the great discr epancy in prevalence found in population studies compared to studies perfor med in the clinic. However, there is no straightforward and simple diagnost ic test for Sjogren's syndrome, although several classification criteria ha ve been designed. Initiatives have been taken to propose a new set of class ification criteria in a joint effort by research groups in Europe and USA. A large number of autoantibodies have been reported in Sjogren's syndrome w here, in some cases, the antibodies are correlated with the extent and seve rity of disease. The finding of serum autoantibodies directed against the m uscarinic M3 receptor is an important advance in understanding the pathogen esis of not only the impaired glandular function but also associated featur es of autonomic dysfunction in some patients. The treatment of primary Sjog ren's syndrome is still mainly symptomatic.