Research of Anti-nucleosome Antibodiesin Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Objective To evaluate the clinical significance of serum anti-nucleosome antibodies(ANuA) in systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE ) patients.Methods The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA ) was used to measure ANuA in serum of 58 SLE patients, 65 patients with other rheumatic diseases(including 28 rheumatoid arthritis, 15 primary sjogren's syndrome, 15 systemic sclerosis, 10 MCTD ) and 30 healthy controls.And also anti-dsDNA together with anti-Sm antibodies were detected.Results Of 58 SLE patients 62.1% were positive for ANuA.In contrast, only 3.1% of 65 control patients were positive and none of the healthy controls were positive(P 0.01 ).The positive rates of anti-dsDNA and anti-Sm in SLE and disease controls were 48.3%, 4.6% and 39.6%, 0 respectively.The sensitivity and specificity of ANuA in SLE were 62.1% and 96.9% respectively.The positive rate and specificity of combinative assay of ANuA,dsDNA and Sm were 70.7% and 92.3% respectively.Conclusion NuAmay be a useful tool for the diagnosis in SLE patients.Simultaneous detection of ANuA, anti-dsDNA and Sm antibodies could notably improve the sensitivity of SLE diagnosis.