PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - EMANUELE COZZANI
AU  - MASSIMO DROSERA
AU  - MARINA SICCARDI
AU  - GIOVANNI BABBINI
AU  - AURORA PARODI
TI  - Indirect Immunofluorescence on HEp-2000 Substrate Is a Sensitive Method for Detecting Anti-Ro/SSA Antibodies in Patients with Lupus Erythematosus and/or Photosensitivity
DP  - 2008 Jul 01
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - 1320--1322
VI  - 35
IP  - 7
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/35/7/1320.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/35/7/1320.full
SO  - J Rheumatol2008 Jul 01; 35
AB  - Objective To evaluate the sensitivity of indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) utilizing HEp-2000 cells to detect antinuclear and anti-Ro/SSA antibodies. Methods We examined 5949 sera samples from 2316 patients with connective tissue diseases. All sera were tested by IIF on HEp-2 cells as substrate and by counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIE). The positive sera for anti-Ro/SSA antibodies by CIE were retested by IIF using HEp-2000 cells. The sera that were anti-Ro/SSA-positive in CIE but negative on HEp-2000 cells were tested by ELISA for the 60 and 52 subunits of Ro/SSA antigen. Results Our results confirm the high sensitivity (81%) of HEp-2000 cells in detecting anti Ro/SSA antibodies. Conclusion Using the HEp-2000 substrate is a reliable, simple alternative method for detecting anti-Ro/SSA antibodies in a first-level screening test such as IIF, especially in patients with lupus erythematosus and/or photosensitivity.