Immunofluorescence Patterns of Antinuclear Antibodies in the Indian Population

Abstract

Autoimmune diseases are chronic hypersensitive diseases that occur due to an inability of the immune system to recognize self-antigens as part of its system. Antinuclear autoantibodies (ANA) are antibodies that target the proteins located in the nucleus, mitotic spindle, nuclear membrane, and cytoplasmic substructures. Detection of ANA is done using either the ANA-IIF or by ELISA method; the latter might be slightly more sensitive as compared to the ANA-IIF but the specificity is however low. ANA patterns such as nuclear, cytoplasmic, and mitotic can be important to clinical practice because they suggest the significance, as well as the nature of autoimmune Connective Tissue Disorder (CTDs). ANA is a predictor of autoimmune diseases, and the risk is greater in female individuals. The specific objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of ANA and the detection of demographic correlations with them; thereby it would help in the identification of the various autoantibody subclasses in the Indian people. The present cross-sectional descriptive study included 351 patient records from a tertiary care hospital in Kolkata, India expounds on the association of multiple ANA patterns with certain autoantibodies, and demography of the ANA-positive patients. Knowledge of such regional variations of autoimmune diseases would be useful to formulate a strategy for proper diagnosis of systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs) in India.