Abstract
Purpose :
Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) often causes lymphoproliferative disorders such as malignant lymphoma and macroglobrinemia. Approximately 5% of long-term follow-up SS patients develop malignant lymphoma. Recently, the tumor necrosis factor superfamily CD30 has been of particular interest, as it is thought to be implicated in poor prognosis of diffuse large B cell lymphoma. In this study, we investigated CD30 expression in lacrimal gland and conjunctival tissues in patients with SS.
Methods :
Lacrimal gland and conjunctival tissues were collected from (1) 3 female SS patients with a median age of 51 and (2) 3 female graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) patients with a median age of 41. Histological findings of these tissues were examined by the methods including immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy (Research Ethics Committee Approval #20090277). We analyzed the expression and localization of CD4, CD8, CD20, CD30 and Interferon-γ in tissue sections prepared from lacrimal gland and conjunctival tissues in 3 each of SS and GVHD patients.
Results :
An equal number of CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells were observed in lacrimal glands and conjunctiva in patients with SS. More B cells and plasma cells, which produce Interferon-γ, infiltrated SS-affected lacrimal gland and conjunctival tissues compared with GVHD-affected ones. Furthermore, lacrimal glands and conjunctiva impaired by SS had a greater number of CD30+ cells than those impaired by GVHD.
Conclusions :
We have found that CD30+ cells are increased in lacrimal glands and conjunctiva affected by SS. Our results suggested that we should pay much attention on the possibility for development of malignant lymphoma in SS patients.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.