Abstract
One hundred and twenty six sera from 116 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and from 51 control patients were assayed for the presence of anti-DNA antibodies, using a commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Fifty three sera (42%) from SLE patients were positive and a further 13 sera (10%) fell in the ‘equivocal’ positive range. Three control sera were positive. In a standard14C DNA Farr assay, 67 sera (53%) from SLE patients were positive. One control serum was weakly positive. There was a good linear correlation between absorption in the ELISA and the14C DNA binding result (r = 0.73). Results in the ELISA and Farr assays were concordant in 96 of the 126 SLE sera, and 47 of 51 control sera. Sequential sera from a further 6 patients with fluctuating clinical activity of SLE showed similar patterns of change of anti-DNA antibodies in both assays. The ELISA was more sensitive than the Crithidia luciliae immunofluorescence assay which detected 44 positive sera (35%) in the SLE group. These results suggest that this ELISA assay may be a useful alternative to the Crithidia assay or an effective screen prior to testing in the more technically difficult and time consuming Farr assay for the measurement of anti-DNA antibodies.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 21-24 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Pathology |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 1991 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Anti-DNA antibodies
- Crithidia luciliae
- ELISA
- Farr assay
- Systemic lupus erythematosus