Comparative analysis of antinuclear antibodies detected by indirect immunofluorescence and line immunoassay

Objective Retrospective analysis on the rsults of anti-nuclear antibodies(ANA) using the indirect immunofluorescence(IIF) and the line immunoassay for specific ANAs,the correlation between these two techniques,and the potential application of it in the diagnoses of autoimmune,and the specific ANAs in 217 serum were examined by LIA for anti-nRNP/Sm,anti-Sm,anti-SS-A,anti-Ro-52,anti-SS-B,anti-SCL-70,anti-PM-Scl,anti-Jo-1,anti-centromere B,anti-nukleosome,anti-PCNA,anti-ds-DNA,anti-histones,anti-ribosomal-P protein and AMA-M2.The association between the results based on these two techniques was analyzed.Methods Results The positive rate of ANA was 39.7%(178/448) in men,and 66.6%(464/702) in women.It was statistically higher in female than in the male(χ2=77.08,P0.05).The specific ANAs results of 217 serum showed that,of the 30 patients with negative ANA by IIF,4 of them were positive for specific ANAs by LIA,the positive rate was 13.3%(4/30);Of the 187 cases with positive ANA by IIF,103 of them were positive for specific ANAs by LIA,the positive rate was 55.4%(103/187).Conclusion The IIF was probable to generate a false negative results of ANA when the major autoantibodies are anti-SSA,anti-SSB and anti-Ro52,whereas the LIA is unable to take place of IIF due to limited of specific autoantibodies.Thus,these two techniques should be jointly used in clinical practice.