Clonally expanded lymphocytes in the minor salivary glands of sjögren's syndrome patients without lymphoproliferative disease

Abstract

Clonal expansion is characteristic of primary SS, and it is uniformly found in the early LSG infiltrates of patients who do not experience further progression to pseudolymphoma or lymphoma (mean followup 4.1 years after biopsy). This feature, together with the clonal discordance between the LSG and the B cell neoplasm found in one patient, suggests that additional steps are critical for the progression to malignancy.