SJOGRENS PRIMITIVE SYNDROME IN FRANCE AND ECUADOR - POSSIBLE INVOLVEMENT OF HTLV1

The authors study the possible involvement of retrovirus in Sjogren's syndrome. They report a preliminar study of 20 French and 13 Ecuadoria n patients with a primary Sjogren syndrome. A previous epidemiologic s tudy showed a HTLV1 seroprevalence going from 0.04 to 6% on different regions of Ecuador. The results of this study show the presence of ant i-HTLV1 antibodies only in 2 Ecuadorian patients and does not allow a final conclusion of the role of HTLV1 virus. Nevertheless other studie s continue on the series using minor salivary gland specimens obtained by biopsy. Recent publications and the notion of an ''endogen'' retro virus will may be lighten a new day in this research.