Use of autoantibodies in clinical practice
Petitpierre, S.ép.; Aubert, V.; Leimgruber, A.; Spertini, F.ço.; Bart, P.-A.
Revue Medicale Suisse 5(199): 823-831
2009
ISSN/ISBN: 1660-9379 PMID: 19441748 Document Number: 15944
Autoantibodies are frequently determined in unclear clinical situations and in the context of an inflammatory syndrome. The aim of this article is not to review all autoantibodies in details, but to discuss those used in clinical practice by describing their methods of detection and interpretation. Thus we will focus on antinuclear antibodies (ANA), which are typically associated with connective tissue diseases, as well as anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA), which are useful in the diagnosis of ANCA-associated vasculitides. Due to its high sensitivity indirect immunofluorescence is used as a screening test; when positive, ELISA is performed to search for antibodies more specifically associated with certain auto-immune diseases.
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