Salivary cytokine profiles in primary Sjögren's syndrome differ from those in non-Sjögren sicca in terms of TNF-α levels and Th-1/Th-2 ratios.

Abstract

Th-1, Th-2, and Th17 cytokine levels were found to be elevated in the saliva of pSS patients compared with non-sicca controls. However, considerable overlap was observed between the salivary cytokine levels of pSS patients and of non-SS sicca controls. The features that most differentiated pSS and non-SS sicca were higher TNF-α levels and Th-1/Th-2 ratios. Th-1/Th-2 ratio was also found to be correlated with the clinical parameters of pSS.