Natural cell mediated cytotoxicity (NCMC) in Sjögren's syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis

The natural cell mediated cytotoxicities (NCMC) were measured in 4 patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SjS) without complication of connective tissue disease (CTD), 4 patients with SjS associated with CTD other than rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 11 patients with SjS associated with RA, and 29 patients with RA without SjS. All 19 patients with SjS showed significantly suppressed NCMC. In the patients with RA without SjS, NCMC of 21 female cases were rather enhanced when compared with controls, while 8 male patients did not differ from controls. The reduced NCMC in SjS did not seem to correlate with the presence of antilymphocyte antibody (ALA). It is of interest that more accelerated NCMC were demonstrated in the patients with RA receiving gold therapy.