Correlation of Increased Blood Levels of GITR and GITRL with Disease Severity in Patients with Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome
Figure 5
High expression of GITRL and GITR in labial salivary glands from patients with pSS. The labial salivary glands (LSG) of pSS patients exhibit increased GITRL and GITR expression. Shown is the expression of the GITRL and GITR in the labial salivary glands of sicca complainer (, left column) and patients with pSS (; right column), as determined by immunostaining using specific antibodies. The cells that stained with the antibodies appeared in brown. The infiltrating lymphocytes and periductal areas of LSG from the patients with pSS exhibited intense GITRL and GITR staining, whereas the expression of GITRL was stronger and more widely distributed than GITR. In contrast, the sicca complainers did not exhibit any GITRL or GITR expression in their labial salivary glands.
