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Updated: Jan 9, 2026
Anti-Nuclear Antibody Screening Using HEp-2 Cells
Published on: June 23, 2014
Prevalence and association testing of antinuclear antibodies and inflammatory bowel disease in Taiwan
Tsai-Min Yang1, Fang-Ting Lu2,3, Hsu-Heng Yen1,4
1Division of Gastroenterology, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan.
Background:
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are characterized by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Antinuclear antibodies (ANAs), which are autoantibodies directed against nuclear components, are commonly present in various autoimmune disorders. We investigated the prevalence and clinical significance of ANAs in Taiwanese patients with IBD.
Methods:
From January 2017 to December 2024, ANA status was checked at initial diagnosis of IBD in patients from a medical center in central Taiwan. Risk factors for ANA positivity were evaluated.
Results:
Of the 166 patients in this study, 57 had CD and 109 had UC. ANA test results were positive (titers of ≥ 1:160) in 26 patients (15.7%). Older age at disease diagnosis (p < 0.05) and a diagnosis of UC (p < 0.05) were statistically significant risk factors for ANA positivity. Gender (p = 0.31), use of advanced therapy (p = 0.66), and the presence of extraintestinal manifestations (EIMs) (p = 0.14) were not associated with ANA positivity. The response to anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy did not differ between ANA-positive and ANA-negative patients (p = 0.34). The most frequent ANA staining patterns were AC1, AC3, and AC4.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that although ANA positivity is relatively common among Taiwanese patients with IBD, particularly among older UC patients. Further validation is required to explore the clinical implications of ANA positivity in Asian population.
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