Prognostic and therapeutic implications of immunologic test results in rheumatic disease

In systemic lupus erythematosus, some immunologic tests quantify disease activity, enable prediction of higher risk patterns of disease, and serve as therapeutic guides. In rheumatoid arthritis, serologic phenomena are significantly associated with more severe and sustained joint disease and with visceral manifestations (vasculitides and granulomas), but they have not been useful in monitoring the course of disease or response to therapy. In other rheumatic syndromes, a variety of antinuclear specificities show promise as marker antibodies, but their prognostic and therapeutic implications remain largely unexplored.