Antinuclear antibody determination: the present state of diagnostic and clinical relevance

Determination of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) will gain in diagnostic significance if a specific type of ANA can be related to a defined clinical disorder. The past decade has brought us quite a lot of papers dedicated to this subject. Yet, with exception of the DNA/anti-DNA system, observed correlations have remained scarce or contradictory. Also, still little is known about the pathogenic role of ANA. Perhaps more recent approaches using biochemical technologies will provide us with highly purified nuclear antigens necessary to study possible correlations at a more sophisticated level.