Fig. 1

Elevated plasma sIL-2R associated with Sjögren’s syndrome. A Plasma sIL-2R levels were significantly increased in patients with SS compared with healthy controls. B Patients with low saliva production (≤3.5 ml/5 min) were considered as severe and had the highest levels of sIL-2R. Non-severe patients with SS (>3.5 ml/5 min) had significantly higher sIL-2R compared with healthy controls. C High plasma sIL-2R was associated with seropositivity. D The amount of saliva produced per min correlated negatively with plasma sIL-2R. (Mann-Whitney U test was used in the comparison between the different groups. To evaluate the association between two variables, we applied the Spearman correlation formula. *p≤0.05, **p≤0.01, ***p≤0.001 and ***p≤0.0001)