Is Hydroxychloroquine Effective for Patients with Symptomatic Sjögren Syndrome?

Troubling symptoms of Sjögren syndrome include oral and ocular dryness, joint and soft-tissue pain, and fatigue. Rarely, patients have serious systemic involvement, such as renal disease, pulmonary disease, vasculitis, or lymphomas. Treatments include hydroxychloroquine, methotrexate, and biologic therapies (e.g., rituximab [Rituxan]), but none of these agents alter symptoms significantly in controlled trials. In this study, investigators in France randomized 120 patients with Sjögren syndrome to receive hydroxychloroquine or placebo for 24 weeks; all patients then received hydroxychloroquine between weeks 24 and 48. Patients who had previously received hydroxychloroquine or other immunosuppressants or who had systemic manifestations were e…