[Descriptive and comparative study of technical methods used for the detection of antinuclear antibodies]

There has been rapid progress in techniques for the detection of antinuclear antibodies. The methods most widely used at present are indirect immunofluorescence, Ouchterlony double immunodiffusion, passive haemagglutination and the Farr test. Antinuclear antibodies recognise several antigens. With a few exceptions, indigenous DNA is specific to DLE and is seen in more than 80 p. cent of patients. Other antibodies are less constant but equally specific: anti-Sm in DLE, antinucleolus in scleroderma. By contrast, the antibodies present in Sjögren's syndrome and anti-ENP would not seem to be specific to any single disease and the quite widely found anti-DNA is of little diagnostic interest.