Antinuclear antibody is being used for the diagnosis of connective tissue disorders from many years. This article gives an antinuclear antibody detection methods and use of these tests for diagnosis of connective tissue disorder. For the detection of ANA immunoflorescence technology is used. The Aims and objective of the study is to find out the role of antinuclear antibody in diagnosing connective tissue disease and to find out the prevalence of positive cases Retrospective study was carried out in department of pathology M.G.M. Medical college and M.Y. Hospital Indore during 5 year duration. The cases with Antinuclear antibody investigation were taken from the records. Positive cases were separated out and then correlation with the presence of connective tissue disease or not is made. 200 cases for ANA investigation were studied and we found that 20 cases are positive while 110 cases are equivocal whereas 70 were negative. Equivocal cases were investigated again after one weak than 15 cases become positive. Follow up was carried out for positive cases and we found that 8 cases have different connective tissue disorders. From this study we make out that the chances of connective tissue disorders are more with the positive ANA cases and we must go through the screening procedure.

Keywords: antinuclear antibody ANA, connective tissue disorders.

1. Walravens M: Systemic diseases and the detection of nuclear and anticytoplasmic antibodies. A historical review. Clin Rheumatol 1987, 6:9-17
2. Jump up ^ "Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)". National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 12 February 2013
3. Kavanaugh A, Tomar R, Reveille J, Solomon DH, Homburger HA (January 2000). "Guidelines for clinical use of the antinuclear antibody test and tests for specific autoantibodies to nuclear antigens. American College of Pathologists". Archives of pathology & laboratory medicine. 124 (1): 71-81.doi: 1043/00039985 (2000) 124<0071:GFCUOT>2.0.CO;2 (inactive 2017-01-15). PMID 10629135
4. Malleson PN, Mackinnon MJ, Sailer-Hoeck M, Spencer CH (2010). "Review for the generalist: The antinuclear antibody test in children – When to use it and what to do with a positive titer". Pediatr Rheumatol Online J. 8: 27. doi:1186/1546-0096-8-27. PMC2987328 . PMID 20961429.
5. M, Chan EK, HoLA, etal. Prevalence and socio demographic correlates of antinuclear antibodies in the United States. Arthritis Rheum. 2012;64: 2319–2327
6. Dipti TR, Azam MS, Sattar MH, etal. Detection of anti-nuclear anti body by immunofluorescence assay and enzyme immunoassay in childhood systemic lupus erythematosus: experience from Bangladesh. Int J Rheum Dis. 2012;15:121–125.
7. Malleson, Sailer, Mackinnon. Usefulness of antinuclear antibody testing to screen forrheumaticdiseases.Arch.Dis.Child1997;77(4):299–304

1. Ghosh P, Dwivedi S, Naik S, Agarwal V, Verma A, Aggarwal A, Misra R. Antinuclear antibodies by indirect immunofluorescence: Optimum screening dilution for diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus. Indian J Med Res. 2007;126:34–38. [PubMed]
2. Kiuttu J, Hartikainen A, Makitalo R. Occurrence of antinuclear antibodies in an unselected pregnancy population. Gynecol Obstet Invest. 1994;37:160–163. [PubMed]
3. Feltkamp TE. Antinuclear antibody determination in a routine laboratory. Ann Rheum Dis. 1996;55:723–727. doi: 10.1136/ard.55.10.723. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Cross Ref]
4. Greidinger E, Hoffman R. Antinuclear Antibody Testing: Methods, Indications, and Interpretation, CE Update Course in Laboratory Medicine. 2003. pp. 113–118.
5. Verstegen G, Duyck MC, Meeus P, et al. Detection and identification of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) in a large community hospital. Acta Clin Belg. 2009;64:317-323.
6. Marin GG, Cardiel MH, Cornejo H, Viveros ME. Prevalence of antinuclear antibodies in 3 groups of healthy individuals: blood donors, hospital personnel, and relatives of patients with autoimmune diseases. J Clin Rheumatol. 2009;15:325-329

Dr Vipin Todase

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.