[Diagnostic approaches in systemic lupus erythematosus (author's transl)]

333 sera from 295 patients were tested for antinuclear antibodies (ANA) by indirect immunofluorescence, and for their binding capacities towards "native", double stranded DNA (anti-nDNA) by a commercially available radioassay kit. 63 out of 66 SLE sera were ANA positive, and 42 were anti-nDNA positive. 267 "non-SLE" sera were also tested, originating from patients with chronic aggressive hepatitis (77), rheumatoid arthritis (86), scleroderma (40), pseudo-LE syndrome (35), and various other "collagenous" diseases (29). 120 of these 267 sera were ANA positive, while only 16 (6%) gave elevated anti-nDNA values. Thus it appears that this anti-nDNA test kit is a helpful tool for the serological diagnosis of SLE.