Investigation the relation between antinuclear antibodies (ANA) result and extractable nuclear antigens (ENA)

Autoimmune diseases occur as a result of the immune response to self antigens and tissues of the organism. Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) autoantibodies generated against to nuclear/ cytoplasmic components of the cell are very important in the diagnosis of these disorders and especially detection of autoantibodies is important diagnostic criteria for connective tissue diseases. Although a number of methods are available for the detection of ANA, immunofloresance antibody (IFA) method, known as the oldest technique, is still widely used. IFA method is served as a ANA scanning test that inform about antibody titration and also specific antibodies by staining pattern. The autoantibodies orginated to extractable nuclear/cytoplasmic antigens, anti-ENA antibodies in connective tissue disease has been noticed for evaluation of the disease differantion and the severity of the course. In our study, it was investigated ANA positivity by using IFA and immunoblotting techniques on a total 559 patient sera from different clinics. The enrolled patients were 403 (%72.1) women and 156 (%27.9)men. IFA for the examination titration and patterns were taken into consideration and subgroups were determinated by immunoblotting techniques. As a result of our study, the positivity was found in 160 (%28.6) sera by IFA and 190 (%34.0) sera by immunoblotting. Sensitivity was found % 61.3 and specificity was found %76.9 for immunoblotting. In conclusion, it is known that diagnosis with only one method is not a reliable aproach for the detection of ANA positivity. It is available to differantiate subgroups of ANA and to determinate different subgroups in same patient by immunoblotting. Therefore we suggest using one or more than one tests together with IFA was suitable in order to get more reliable results. Key words: Antinuclear antibody, anti-ENA, autoantibody, autoimmune disease, immunoblotting, immunofloresance antibody.