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Determination of anti-ds-DNA antibodies by three different methods: Comparison of sensitivity, specificity and correlation with lupus activity index (LAI)

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Summary

Ninety-seven sera, 58 from patients with SLE and 39 from patients with other autoimmune rheumatic diseases were tested for anti-ds-DNA antibody activity by ELISA, Farr, and Crithidia Lucilliae assays. Fifty-six per cent of the sera were positive by at least one method. Eighty per cent of the SLE population was positive by ELISA, 39% by Farr Assay and 33% by the Crithidia assay. Crithidia assay exhibited the greater specificity (100%) followed by the Farr Assay (97%) and the ELISA (80%). Sera positive by all methods showed a significantly higher mean value of the ELISA rates, than sera positive only by ELISA (p<0.001). When the SLE sera were analyzed according to disease activity, it was shown that ELISA and Farr Assay correlated well with the lupus activity index (LAI) (r<0.001). The SLE sera with the higher anti-ds-DNA concentration (sera positive by all 3 methods) did not correlate with LAI when tested by the Farr Assay (0.05<p<01) in contrast to the ELISA values, which correlated very well (p<0.01). Our results indicated that the ELISA is the most sensitive method with reasonable specificity as well. In addition, the ELISA anti-DNA values correlate with the clinical activity of lupus, independently of the anti-ds-DNA levels in the sera. The latter should be attributed to the fact that this method detects all the heterogenous population of anti-ds-DNA.

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Tzioufas, A.G., Terzoglou, C., Stavropoulos, E.D. et al. Determination of anti-ds-DNA antibodies by three different methods: Comparison of sensitivity, specificity and correlation with lupus activity index (LAI). Clin Rheumatol 9, 186–192 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02031967

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02031967

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