Autoantibody Profile in Systemic Sclerosis

Systemic sclerosis is a generalized disorder of connective tissue clinically characterized by thickening and fibrosis of the skin and by distinctive forms of involvement of internal organs. One of the hallmarks of systemic sclerosis is the presence of serum autoantibodies against a variety of nuclear and cytoplasmic antigens. The primary purpose of this study was to identify the autoantibodies profile in the scleroderma sera and the secondary goal was to determine the correlation and discrepancy of autoantibody profile. Autoantibody profile was determined in 118 samples stored in the Advanced Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Calgary. 78 sera were provided from Canadian and 40 sera were provided from Ukraine. We used the following techniques to identify autoantibodies profile in scleroderma patients: 1. Antinuclear antibody (ANA) by indirect immunofluorescence on human epithelial cell substrate 2. Detection and identification of specific autoantibodies by Innolia strip assay 3. Detection and identification of specific autoantibodies against extractable nuclear antigens. 111 out of 118 patients showed positive ANA results by indirect immunofluorescence and 7 patients had negative ANA results. Anti-ENA analyses by Inolia were positive in 84 patients, while by western blotting 81 patients showed positive results. In this study, we compared the results of anti-ENA antibody by Innolia with SLR technique. A significant correlation was found between anti-SCl-70 antibodies (P=0.000) and anti- RNP antibodies (P=0.001) and JO-1 antibodies (P=0.014). Thus, we may propose that SLR and Innolia techniques could be used for the detection of autoantibody in systemic sclerosis.