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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Anti-Nuclear Antibody Screening Using HEp-2 Cells
Published on: June 23, 2014
Mononuclear cells from rheumatoid arthritis patients exhibit a depressed IgM response to sheep erythrocyte
A Gabrielli1, R Silver, G Teti
1Department of Pathology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425.
Abstract:
Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells when cultured for the short term (11 days) produce an optimal IgM plaque-forming cell (PFC) response to sheep erythrocytes, which is dependent on macrophages and T suppressor and helper lymphocytes. With this system we have investigated the PFC response of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis and compared this to the response of normal sex- and age-matched controls and of patients with osteoarthritis. The response of rheumatoid arthritis patients was significantly lower than that of subjects in the other two categories.

