Autoimmune sialadenitis: a form of onset of Sjögren's syndrome?

We analyzed phenotype, activation factors and adhesion molecules in minor salivary glands of patients with incomplete Sjögren's syndrome (SS) criteria and those with autoimmune diseases without defined SS criteria who presented non-specific sialadenitis. These data were correlated with those observed in patients with established SS. A total of 76 minor salivary gland biopsies were analyzed. Twenty-five patients had defined SS, 23 probable SS and 28 had diffuse infiltrates without forming foci (12 had probable SS and 16 had autoimmune disease without associated SS). When a group of 23 patients with focal infiltrates ("focal sialadenitis") and probable SS was compared with another of 25 with defined SS, no significant differences were detected in the phenotype, activation or adhesion molecules studied or in HLA-DR expression in epithelium. In patients with diffuse infiltrate ("non-specific sialadenitis"), no differences were found in phenotype cell activation molecules expression was observed in the lymphocytes of some biopsies of patients with autoimmune disease without SS, though without statistical significance. Statistically significant differences were found in HLA-DR expression in epithelium.