Figure 1

Sera were obtained from SICCA on patients with complaints of dry eyes and dry mouth who had lip biopsies with focus scores = 0 (9 patients; 4 male, mean age 49.8 years), focus scores < 1 / 4 mm²(40 patients; 3 male; mean age 49.9 years) or focus scores > 3 / 4 mm²(40 patients; 2 males; mean age 51 years). Normal controls contained 5 males and had a mean age of 37.5 years (50 patients). In the anti-CA6 studies, positives ranged from 20.7 – 46.4 and negatives from 0 – 19.6. In the anti-PSP studies, positives ranged from 20.3 – 99 and negatives from .1 – 14.6. In the anti-SP1 studies, positives ranged from 20.7 – 65.1 and negatives from 0 – 17.1. In the anti-Ro studies, positives ranged from 26.2 – 330 and negatives from 1.1 – 16.6. In the anti-La studies, positives ranged from 20.9 – 195. 4 and negatives from 0.9 – 19.6. In each of the study groups, F = 0, F <1 and F > 3, the expression of the autoantibodies, anti-CA6, anti-PSP, anti-SP1, anti-Ro and anti-La, was statistically significant when compared to the normal controls (in all cases p < .0005). The increased expression of anti- CA6 in the F0 group compared to the F <1 group (p = .032) or the F > 3 group (p = .006) were statistically significant. Neither anti-PSP nor anti-SP1 reached statistical significance because of the small numbers in the F0 group, although there was a trend for their expression to be higher in the F0 group. On the other hand, the expression of anti-Ro was significantly reduced in the F0 group compared to the F <1 (p = .0021) and F > 3 (p = .0003) groups. The reduced expression of anti-La in the F0 group compared to the F <1 and F > 3 groups did not quite reach statistical significance.