scleroderma is a multisystem autoimmune connective tissue disease, cliaracterized by hardening of the skin. hv had 25 patients in the iranian pediatric unit of rheumatology over 10 years. there was female predominance if.m = 4/1, 80% female, 20% male). the age of onest was from 6 months to 16 years, the mean age being 10 years. the symptoms and signs were: nonpitting edema in 16%, liard skin in...

Fluorescent antinuclear antibody test (FANA) and anti-double stranded deoxytribonucleic acid (dsDNA) antibody testing is an integral part of the evaluation of the patients who are suspected of having connective tissue disease. We tested 2,140 serum samples for FANA and 1,460 serum samples for anti-dsDNA antibodies. Of 2,140 serum samples tested for FANA, 492 (23%) yielded a positive result (tit...

Autoantibodies to the three extractable nuclear antigens (ENA), Anti-SSA (Ro), Anti-Sm, Anti-RNP and antinuclear antibodies were determined in 150 patients with SLE. Seventy patients (46.7%) had Anti-SSA (Ro), 40 (26.7%) Anti-Sm and 25 (16.7%) Anti-RNP antibodies. Ninety four percent patients had a positive Fluorescent anti-nuclear antibody (FANA) test. The commonest FANA pattern is the speckle...

We compared the reliability and reproducibility of three tests for fluorescent antinuclear antibodies (FANA) that are routinely performed in our laboratory. Sera from 72 patients, selected according to diagnosis (SLE in 28, RA in 12, and other connective-tissue diseases in 33), and from 32 healthy controls were tested with all three assays. There were wide variations between the results obtaine...

OBJECTIVE The relationship between human leukocyte antigens class II (HLA) and antinuclear antibodies was investigated in Jamaican patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). METHODS Samples of blood of 82 patients with SLE and 75 healthy controls were tested for antinuclear antibodies using the fluorescent antinuclear antibody (FANA) test, counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) and the Cr...

Twenty-seven patients with chronic, active, seronegative polyarthritis were assessed clinically and serologically by accepted criteria for evidence of connective tissue diseases. The patients were divided into 2 groups, 13 positive for fluorescent antinuclear antibody (FANA) and 14 that were negative. All but 1 patient fulfilled the clinical criteria for the diagnosis of definite rheumatoid art...

By making comparisons with the usual manual method, we evaluated an automatic fluorescent image analyzer (Image Titer, Tripath Imaging, Burlington NC), the software for which was developed to simplify measuring indirect immunofluorescent antinuclear antibodies (FANAs). In this new system, images of the stained sample are displayed, and it measures the FANA titer and staining pattern using only ...

Dear Editor The fluorescent antinuclear antibody (FANA) test is widely used for the detection of systemic autoantibodies. Moreover, the fluorescent patterns seen with the FANA test have specific clinical significance [1, 2]. We recently observed an unfamiliar FANA pattern with several small cytoplasmic rod and ring immunofluorescence known as anti-rods and rings (RR) autoantibodies— the first i...

BACKGROUND The gold standard for antinuclear antibody (ANA) screening is the indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) assay with human epithelial cells (HEp-2). However, a number of substantial disadvantages of manual IIF assays have highlighted the need for the automation and standardization of fluorescent ANA (FANA) testing. We evaluated the performance of EUROPattern Suite (Euroimmun AG, Germany), ...

BACKGROUND Studies have shown the presence of either antibodies to histone or anticardiolipin antibodies in some forms of childhood chronic arthritis. The relation between these autoantibodies has not been previously reported, however, and the immunogenetics of their association with childhood arthritis has not been studied. METHODS The interrelation of fluorescent antinuclear antibodies, ant...