A variety of staining patterns can be seen on indirect immunofluorescent antinuclear antibody testing. The pattern seen correlates with the underlying disease, which can be diagnosed by performing additional tests.
Immunofluorescent Pattern |
Disease |
nuclear rim (peripheral) |
SLE |
|
drug-induced lupus |
|
other connective tissue diseases |
homogeneous (diffuse) |
SLE |
|
drug-induced lupus |
|
other connective tissue diseases |
nuclear rim and homogeneous |
SLE |
|
drug-induced lupus |
|
other connective tissue diseases |
speckled (extractable nuclear antigen) |
rheumatoid arthritis |
|
SLE |
|
mixed connective tissue disease |
|
Sjogren's syndrome |
atypical speckled |
scleroderma |
nucleolar |
peripheral systemic sclerosis |
|
Sjogren's |
|
SLE |
centromere |
CREST |
|
scleroderma |
Disease |
Additional Tests |
systemic lupus erythematosus |
anti-double stranded DNA |
|
anti- single stranded DNA |
|
anticardiolipin |
|
anti-Sm (Smith), with speckled pattern |
drug-induced lupus |
anti-histone |
CREST |
Scl-70 |
|
anti-RNP |
scleroderma |
SS-A/Ro |
|
SS-B/La |
|
Scl-70 |
peripheral systemic sclerosis |
anti-RNP |
rheumatoid arthritis |
rheumatoid factor |
mixed connective tissue disease |
anti-RNP |
Sjogren's syndrome |
SS-A/Ro |
|
SS-B/La |
|
antihistone |
other connective tissue disease |
|
Purpose: To use the pattern of immunofluorescence shown by antinuclear antibodies to indicate a patient's underlying immune disorder.
Specialty: Immunology/Rheumatology, Clinical Laboratory
Objective: clinical diagnosis, including family history for genetics, imaging studies, laboratory tests, disease progression
ICD-10: K75.4, L93, M32.0, M33.0, M33.1, M33.2, M34, M35.0, M35.1,