Immunofluorescence microscopy of the skin has disclosed antibodies bound to epidermal cell nuclei in several connective tissue disorders. To establish the diagnostic potential of this phenomenon the results of immunofluorescence microscopy of biopsy specimens from 1651 subjects with various diseases and from 315 patients with systemic connective tissue disorders and related diseases were review...

A 24 year old woman was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE) based on a few months’ history of a photosensitive skin rash, predominantly on her face, arthralgia involving both hands and wrists, a positive antinuclear antibody (ANA) test and a raised antinative double stranded DNA antibody binding level. She was treated with oral hydroxychloroquine 400 mg daily and short courses of ...

BACKGROUND Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is frequently associated with the presence of serum autoantibodies. The prevalence and clinical relevance of serum autoantibodies in CHC patients and their influence on antiviral treatment have not been well established. METHODS From February 1999 to July 2004, 460 consecutive adult patients with CHC were studied. Antinuclear antibody (ANA) and smooth musc...

OBJECTIVE Many laboratories do not test antinuclear antibodies (ANA) by indirect immune-fluorescence (IIF) in parallel with anti-double stranded (ds) DNA antibodies. This study attempts to investigate the legitimacy of such practice. METHODS A retrospective laboratory data analysis of simultaneous assessment of ANA and anti-dsDNA antibody results of 106 patients with either diagnosed or suspe...

conclusions thyroid dysfunction was not higher in sle patients compared to healthy individuals. however, anti-tg antibodies were higher in sle patients. it has not yet been established that thyroid function tests should be performed routinely in sle patients. results the mean age of sle patients and controls were 32.16 ± 9.19 and 32.48 ± 9.47 years, respectively (p = 0.821). patients had signif...

BACKGROUND The clinical implications of autoimmune testing in chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) are not well established. OBJECTIVE To identify the association of autoimmune biomarkers in CIU with disease severity. METHODS We retrospectively evaluated 195 patients with a diagnosis of CIU for the presence of antinuclear antibody (ANA), anti-thyroglobulin antibody (ATG), anti-thyroperoxidase...

OBJECTIVE Paraneoplastic neuropathy is a clinical and immunological heterogeneous disorder and attempts have been made to classify subgroups of this disease. Only 30-50% of the clinical defined cases have antineuronal antibodies. METHODS The clinical and immunological features of 36 patients with paraneoplastic neuropathy from the authors' database were analysed including the type and course ...

Background: Sjögren’s syndrome is the second most common systemic autoimmune disease after rheumatoid arthritis, RA, with a prevalence of about 0.5% in the general population. It occurs primarily in perimenopausal women (at a ratio of women to men of 9: 1) Sjögren’s syndrome is characterized by lymphocytic infiltration to exocrine glands. The specific autoantibodies of this syndrome are against...

During the 12th International Workshop on Autoantibodies and Autoimmunity held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 28, 2014, a full day session was devoted to establishing a consensus on the nomenclature of staining patterns observed in the antinuclear antibody (ANA) indirect immunofluorescence test on HEp-2 cells. The current report summarizes the collective agreements with input from the host Bra...