Clinical Chemistry AACC Online Job Center
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Clinical Chemistry 50: 2361-2369, 2004. First published October 7, 2004; 10.1373/clinchem.2004.035964
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Data Supplement
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
clinchem.2004.035964v1
50/12/2361    most recent
Right arrow Submit an electronic Letter to
the Editor about this paper
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bossuyt, X.
Right arrow Articles by Mariën, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bossuyt, X.
Right arrow Articles by Mariën, G.
Related Collections
Right arrow Clinical Immunology
Right arrow Evidence Based Laboratory Medicine and Test Utilization
Right arrow Proteomics and Protein Markers
(Clinical Chemistry. 2004;50:2361-2369.)
© 2004 American Association for Clinical Chemistry, Inc.

Clinical Immunology

Detection of Anti-SSA Antibodies by Indirect Immunofluorescence

Xavier Bossuyt1,a, Johan Frans1, Ann Hendrickx1, Godelieve Godefridis1, René Westhovens2 and Godelieve Mariën1

1 Laboratory Medicine and2 Internal Medicine, University Hospital Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

aAddress correspondence to this author at: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Immunology, University Hospital Leuven, Herestraat 49, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium. Fax 32-13-347042; e-mail xavier.bossuyt{at}uz.kuleuven.ac.be.

Background: HEp-2 cells that overexpress the human 60-kDa SSA antigen have been used to improve sensitivity and specificity for the detection of anti-SSA antibodies by indirect immunofluorescence. We describe a survey on the detection of anti-SSA antibodies using a commercial substrate that overexpresses SSA.

Methods: The evaluation was done on 18 371 consecutive samples submitted to the laboratory for detection of anti-nuclear antibodies, from which 188 anti-SSA antibody-containing and clinically documented samples were obtained. The presence of anti-SSA antibodies produced a distinct bright speckled pattern with nucleolar staining in 10–20% of interphase cells. The identity of all anti-SSA antibodies was confirmed by dot-blot analysis.

Results:Samples containing anti-SSA antibodies were separated into three main groups: group I, distinctive SSA pattern and other nuclear staining (50%); group II, only the distinctive SSA pattern (29%); group III, nuclear staining but without the distinctive SSA pattern (21%). Anti-SSA antibodies with concurrent SSB antibodies were associated with group I, whereas anti-SSA antibodies with concurrent U1-RNP antibodies were associated with group III. Group I included mainly patients with Sjögren syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), whereas group III included patients with mixed connective tissue disease and SLE. Diseases not classically associated with the presence of anti-SSA antibodies were found in group II in >50% of the cases.

Conclusions: SSA-positive individuals were identified in a population selected on the basis of HEp-2000 positivity. Our study highlights diseases associated with anti-SSA antibodies and associations between the presence of the distinctive SSA pattern on HEp-2000 and some clinical conditions.




The following articles in journals at HighWire Press have cited this article:


Home page
 Clin. Chem.Home page
X. Bossuyt and A. Luyckx
Antibodies to Extractable Nuclear Antigens in Antinuclear Antibody-Negative Samples
Clin. Chem., December 1, 2005; 51(12): 2426 - 2427.
[Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2004 by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.