Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Primary Sj ögren's Syndrome: Does Inflammation Matter?

Conclusions The markers of endothelial activation and damage and of chronic inflammation investigated until now failed to result predictors of subclinical atherosclerosis or to be associated with increased risk of CV events in SS patients. This may suggest that other mechanisms are implicated with increased prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis in SS or that these biomarkers exert a different mechanism in the pathogenesis of endothelial damage and in the induction of atherosclerosis. Surely, the relationship between the disease itself and inflammatory and immune dysfunction factors is quite complex and still to be clarified. Disease activity measured by EULAR SS disease activity index did not correlate with subclinical atherosclerotic damage, probably due to the low disease activity index frequently detected in these patients (39, 48). However, patients with systemic extra-glandular involvement, including central nervous system, appear to be characterized by higher risk of CV events and, on the other hand, patients with more concomitant traditional CV risk factors present higher prevalence of extra-glandular manifestations, in particular liver and central nervous system involvement, in comparison to those without traditional risk factors (16, 44). Actually, chronic damage more than disease activity seems to be associated with higher prevalence of aortic stiffness in SS patients independently by Framingham score (48). As already stated, SS is usually characterized by a be...
Source: Frontiers in Immunology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Source Type: research