Autophagy occurs in lymphocytes infiltrating Sjogren's syndrome minor salivary glands and correlates with histological severity of salivary gland lesions.

ABSTRACT:

Backgrounds

The organization of minor salivary glands (MSG) infiltrates, in patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS), associates with disease severity and progression. Aberrant regulation of lymphocyte autophagy is involved in autoimmunity, and in previous work, we provided the first evidence of upregulated autophagy in CD4+ T cells infiltrating SS MSG. The aim of this study was to further explore autophagy in SS infiltrating and circulating lymphocytes and to investigate its role in disease histopathological progression.

Methods

After collection of 20 SS MSG, the presence of lymphocyte aggregates (foci) and the formation of germinal center (GC)-like structures were observed by H&E and confirmed by immunohistochemistry. The expression of autophagy-related genes, Atg5 and MAP1LC

SUBMITTER: Colafrancesco S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7557086 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature