Clinical interpretation of antinuclear antibody tests in systemic rheumatic diseases

Autoantibody tests have been used extensively in diagnosis and follow-up of patients in rheumatology clinics. Immunofluorescent antinuclear antibody test using HEp-2 cells is still considered the gold standard for screening of autoantibodies, and most of specific autoantibodies are currently tested...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inModern rheumatology Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 219 - 228
Main Authors Satoh, Minoru, Vázquez-Del Mercado, Monica, Chan, Edward K. L.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Japan Springer Japan 01.06.2009
Informa Healthcare
Subjects
Antibodies, Antinuclear - blood
Autoimmune diseases
Biomarkers - blood
Connective Tissue Diseases - diagnosis
Connective Tissue Diseases - immunology
Humans
Medical diagnosis
Medical tests
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Orthopedics
Review Article
Rheumatology
Polymyositis
Autoantibodies
Scleroderma
SLE
Antinuclear antibodies
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Summary:Autoantibody tests have been used extensively in diagnosis and follow-up of patients in rheumatology clinics. Immunofluorescent antinuclear antibody test using HEp-2 cells is still considered the gold standard for screening of autoantibodies, and most of specific autoantibodies are currently tested by ELISA as a next step. Among the many autoantibody specificities described, some have been established as clinically useful diagnostic markers and are included in the classification criteria of diseases. Despite a long history of routine tests and attempts to standardize such assays, there are still limitations and problems that clinicians need to be aware of. Clinicians should be able to use autoantibody tests more efficiently and effectively with a basic knowledge on the significance of and potential problems in autoantibody tests.
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ISSN:1439-7595
1439-7609
DOI:10.1007/s10165-009-0155-3