The antinuclear antibodies (ANA) test has been a cornerstone of the evaluation of connective tissue disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic value of the ANA test in pleural or pericardial effusions of unknown causes. Over a 3-yr period, a total of 126 pleural fluid and 30 pericardial fluid samples were analysed. ANA tests were performed using a commercially available ki...

We present a case of a 47 year-old African American female with 15 pack-years of tobacco use and heavy alcohol use who presented with arthritis and was found to have a positive antinuclear antibodies (ANA), anti double stranded DNA antibodies (anti-dsDNA), and anti-Sjogren's syndrome-related antigen A and antigen B (anti-SSA and anti-SSB). She was subsequently found to have a lung adenocarcinom...

Antinuclear antibodies are almost always found in sera of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. To differentiate antinuclear antibodies from antibodies to DNA in the recently described Crithidia luciliae assay, we developed an immunoperoxidase technique for detecting antibodies to native, double-stranded DNA and compared results by it with those by the Farr assay. Smears of cultured Crith...

Antibodies were eluted from the isolated glomeruli prepared from the kidneys of 10 patients with the nephritis of systemic lupus erythematosus. Antibodies reacting primarily with buffer extracts of nuclei were eluted by acid treatment, and antibodies reacting mainly with DNA and nucleoprotein were eluted with deoxyribonuclease. Quantitative immunochemical studies revealed a high concentration o...