Diseasee modifying effects of local soluble tumor necrosiss factor a receptor-1 gene transfer in a murinee model of Sjogren's syndrome

摘要: Sjogren'ss syndrome (SS) is characterized by focal and diffuse lymphocyte infiltration into thee lacrimal and salivary glands (SG). These mononuclear cell infiltrates mainly consist off CD4 positive T lymphocytes (1). The altered secretory function of the salivary and lacrimall glands is the most prominent feature of the disease. Non-obese diabetic (NOD) micee not only exhibit a prominent lymphocytic cell infiltration of the pancreatic islets, butt are also characterized by mononuclear cell infiltrates in salivary and lacrimal glands thatt is age dependent. Moreover, the secretory function of the SG of female NOD mice diminishess over time, comparable to SS (2).Proinflammatoryy cytokines such as TNF-a may play a pivotal role in the development off autoimmune diseases (3-5). In addition, the immune response seems to be biased towardd a Thl-like profile in NOD mice (6). Immunohistochemical staining of the exocrine glandd lymphocytic infiltrates is most intense for TNF-a, IL-2, and IFN-y (2, 7-9).