Table 4.

Differences between pSS, HCV, HIV and CMV (3, 7, 77, 85, 124, 126, 149, 150).

	Sjögren’s syndrome	HCV	HIV	CMV
Age	40–50	All	All/young adults	Young/adults
Gender	F>M	All	M>F	Heterosexual transmission F>M Homosexual transmission M>F
	Dryness mild to severe	Dryness usually mild, medium	Dryness even severe (DILS)	Mouth dryness Possibility of HIV coinfections
Antibodies	Anti-SSA/Ro, anti SSB/La ANAs	Anti-HCV Ab presence of cryoglobulins; presence of other autoantibodies is rare, but when Abs are present, they are usually at low levels; ANAs are in low titers	Anti-HIV Ab; presence of other autoantibodies is rare, but when Abs are present, they are usually at low levels; ANAs are in low titers	Anti-CMV Anti-LKM (autoimmune hepatitis) ANAs may be present in low titer
RF IgM	May be highly positive ++/+++	+	+	+
Histopathology	Mainly CD4+	CD4+, CD20+	CD 8+	CD 34+,
Target cells	B cells	Hepatocytes, dendritic cells, and B cells	CD4+	Epithelial cells, endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and smooth muscle cells
Target organ	Exocrine glands Extraglandular organ and system involvement	Liver, salivary glands	Lymphoid tissue	Lymph nodes, central nervous system, liver, bone marrow (coagulopathy, hemophagocytosis)
Organ/system involvement	Pulmonary, nervous system, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract (liver)	Gastrointestinal tract, liver	Musculoskeletal, nervous system, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, skin	Upper respiratory tract, pulmonary, gastrointestinal (liver, spleen)
Possible connection with oncology	MZBL (marginal zone B cell lymphoma); MALT	Hepatocellular carcinoma	Kaposi Lymphoma Others depending on opportunistic infection HPV—cervical, anal, oropharyngeal, penile, vaginal, and vulvar cancer EBV—non-Hodgkin and Hodgkin lymphoma HBV/HCV—hepatocellular carcinoma	Breast and gastric cancer Glioblastoma

HPV, human papilloma virus; EBV, Epstein–Barr virus; HBV, hepatitis B virus; HCV, hepatitis C virus.