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Table 1 Studies providing evidence on the role of retroviruses in the pathogenesis of Sjögren's syndrome

From: Is Sjögren's syndrome a retroviral disease?

Retrovirus

Study

Origin

Main findings

HTLV-1

   
 

[12]

USA

SS-like illness developed in HTLV-I-infected patients with tropical spastic paraparesis.

 

[13]

Europe

An antigen reactive with a monoclonal antibody to HTLV-I p19 was present in the LSG of patients with SS.

 

[14]

Japan

Thirty-six percent of patients with primary SS were found, by ELISA, to be positive for serum antibodies to HTLV-I.

 

[15]

Japan

Rates of HTLV-1 seroprevalence were 23% (17/74) among patients with SS and 3% (916/27,284) among blood donors. However, the difference between patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and blood donors was insignificant.

 

[17]

Europe

Serum antibodies to HTLV-I were detected in 2 to 5 out of 11 patients with SS.

 

[18]

Japan

HTLV-I-infected T cells expressing TCR with a conserved motif accumulated in both HTLV-I-associated and idiopathic SS

 

[19]

Japan

HTLV-I proviral DNA was present in the nucleus of the infiltrating T cells but not in either the epithelial cells or the acinar cells of the salivary glands of HTLV-I-seropositive patients with SS.

 

[20]

Japan

Definitive SS was diagnosed in 6 patients and probable SS in 2 patients among 10 patients with HAM.

 

[21]

Japan

Definite SS was diagnosed in 13 out of 20 patients with HAM.

 

[22]

Japan

The HTLV-I tax gene, but not the HTLV-I gag, pol, or env genes, was detected in LSG samples from 4 out of 14 patients with SS.

 

[23]

Europe

The HTLV-I tax gene, but not the gag, pol, or env genes, was detected in LSG sections from 2 out of 9 patients with SS and from none of the control subjects.

 

[24]

Europe

The tax gene of HTLV-I was detected in LSG from 15 out of 50 of patients (30%) with SS, 9 out of 32 patients (28%) with other inflammatory processes (3/9 graft-versus-host disease, 5/19 extravasated cysts, and 1/4 sarcoidosis), and only 1 out of 26 patients (4%) with normal LSG.

 

[25]

Japan

The HTLV-I tax gene was detected in LSG of 3 out of 17 seronegative patients (18%) with SS.

 

[42]

USA

An autoimmune exocrinopathy with histopathological findings similar to those of SS was observed in HTLV-1 tax transgenic mice.

HIV-1

   
 

[27]

USA

An SS-like illness was reported among HIV-1-infected patients.

 

[28, 29]

USA

The DILS was described as a disorder affecting a subgroup of patients with HIV-1 infection.

 

[30]

Europe

The prevalence of DILS among HIV-1-infected patients was 7.79%.

 

[31]

USA

The prevalence of DILS among HIV-1-infected patients was 32.3%.

 

[32]

USA-Africa

The prevalence of DILS in patients from the US was 6%. The prevalence in patients with HIV infection from Cameroon was 48%.

 

[33]

Europe

The prevalence of HIV-1-related SS dropped from 8% in the pre-HAART era to 1.5% in the post-HAART era.

 

[34]

USA

The prevalence of DILS dropped significantly in the post-HAART era.

HIAP-I

   
 

[37]

USA

HIAP-I has been identified in lymphoblastoid cells cocultured with homogenates of salivary glands from patients with SS.

HRV-5

   
 

[40]

Europe

Novel sequences spanning parts of the protease and reverse transcriptase open reading frames of a retrovirus were detected in LSG tissues of eight patients with SS.

 

[41]

Europe

Two out of 55 LSG samples from patients with SS were positive for HRV-5 proviral DNA.

  1. DILS, diffuse infiltrative lymphocytosis syndrome; ELISA, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; HAART, highly active anti-retroviral treatment; HAM, HTLV-I (human T lymphotropic virus type 1)-associated myelopathy; HIAP-I, human intracisternal A-type retroviral particle; HIV-1, human immunodeficiency virus-1; HRV-5, human retrovirus-5; HTLV-1, human T lymphotropic virus type 1; LSG, labial salivary gland; SS, Sjögren's syndrome; TCR, T-cell receptor.