SSB and sialadenitis: A large number of studies have linked SS with HCV, including the common finding of focal sialadenitis in patients with HCV [13], the development of an SS-like exocrinopathy in transgenic mice carrying the HCV envelope genes [14], the infection and replication of HCV in epithelial cells from salivary glands of patients with SS or chronic sialadenitis [15], and the discovery of the key role of the La protein in facilitating the internal initiation of translation and replication of HCV-RNA [16].