Objective. Different sets of diagnostic criteria have been proposed for Sjogren's syndrome (SS), but none have been validated with a large series of patients or in a multicenter study. We conducted the present study involving 26 centers from 12 countries (11 in Europe, plus Israel), with the goals of reaching a consensus on the diagnostic procedures for SS and defining classification criteria to be used in epidemiologic surveys and adopted by the scientific community.Methods. The study protocol was subdivided into two parts. For part I, questionnaires regarding both ocular and oral involvement were developed; they in-

Serum levels of the soluble form of the interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) were measured in the sera of 32 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. A significant correlation was observed between the levels of sIL-2R and the SLAM score of disease activity (R:0.40; p: less than 0.05). The correlation was slightly lower than those between the SLAM score and the levels of anti-dsDNA or of the complement activity. The levels of sIL-2R were not significantly correlated with those of serum anti-ds-DNA and complement, nor with a sign of peripheral blood B cell hyperactivity, such as the spontaneous in vitro production of anti-DNA antibodies.

No abstract

No abstract