ORGENTEC Autoimmunity Blog

Covering Autoimmune Diseases

Anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA)

ANA or anti-nuclear antibodies are a group of special autoantibodies directed against various components of the cell nucleus. The presence of ANA is associated with several autoimmune diseases but is most commonly seen in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Over 90% of SLE patients test positive for ANA.

Other conditions in which the ANA test may be positive include Sjögren’s syndrome (between 40% and 70% of patients with this condition have a positive ANA test result), and systemic sclerosis (about 60% to 90% of people with scleroderma test positive for ANA). A positive ANA result may eventually occur in people with Raynaud’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, dermatomyositis or polymyositis, mixed connective tissue disease, and other kind of autoimmune disease.

ANA can be detected by indirect immunofluorescence assays (IFA) on HEp-2 cells fixed to glass slides or by immunoassays, e.g. ELISA or immunoblot. In ANA detection IFA and immunoassays complement each other: one test is used for screening, the other for confirmation of positive or ambiguous test results.

For further differential diagnosis single ANA subspecies may be analysed individually by enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay or blot tests, e.g. SS-A antibodies (Ro) and SS-B antibodies (La) when Sjögren’s syndrome is suspected, or anti-Scl-70 antibodies and anti-centromere assays in scleroderma.

A positive ANA test is not necessarily related to an autoimmune disease: about 15% of completely healthy persons have a positive ANA test.

 

Tests for ANA detection offered by ORGENTEC Diagnsotika

ELISA/Alegria®:

ANA Detect (ORG 600, ORG 200)
ANAcombi (ORG 539)
ANAscreen (ORG 538, ORG 238)

Immunoblot:

ANA-9-Line (ORG 710)

Tests for Indirect Immunofluorescence Assays (IFA):

Anti-Nuclear Antibodies (ANA-HEp-2) (ORG 870, ORG 800)

 

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  1. The Foundation’s Research Grant Funding Program has earned a unique place in the field of Scleroderma research. The Scleroderma Foundation has a critically important role as catalyst – to fund and to stimulate new research and new ideas. A Treatment for Scleroderma, however, remains an elusive goal. Research costs continue to climb. Modern laboratory staff, equipment, and supplies are expensive.

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