If all transmembrane mucins are involved in resisting rose bengal penetration, then these data conflict in principle with our findings of increased levels of membrane bound MUC1 in SS versus NDE and no difference in membrane bound MUC16 in our previous work with SS, KCS and NDE [30], since rose bengal staining is found clinically in greater amounts in Sjogren’s syndrome patients [48]. Here, MUC1 is linked to Sjogren syndrome.