Using the EUROLINE ANA Profil 23 a patient sample can be tested for autoantibodies against 23 different nuclear antigens in one incubation. They are considered as the most important antigens which underlie the nuclear ANA patterns defined by an international consensus.
For more than 50 years the abbreviation “ANA” has been used to describe anti-nuclear antibodies which are biomarkers of different rheumatological autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren syndrome, dermatomyositis or systemic sclerosis. The various ANA give specific patterns in immunofluorescence tests (IFT) on human epithelial cells (HEp-2) and those help to identify the autoantibodies. However, the terminology does not consider that also relevant autoantibodies targeting other cell compartments than the nucleus are found in IFT on HEp-2 cells. Rather for historical reasons the name ANA has been retained. At the 12th International Workshop on Autoantibodies and Autoimmunity in Brazil 2014, 66 experienced, international scientists agreed for the first time on a common nomenclature to describe the nuclear, cytoplasmic and mitotic ANA patterns on HEp-2 cells for (International Consensus on the nomenclature of ANA staining pattern, ICAP, in Chan et al. Frontiers in Immunology 2015, (6) 412: 1-13; www.ANApatterns.org).
In total 14 nuclear patterns are described within the Consensus, named “anti-cell (AC) pattern” 1-14:
| homogeneous pattern | speckled patterns | dense fine speckled | centromere | nuclear dots | nucleolar patterns | nuclear membrane | pleomorphic patterns |
| AC-1 | AC-2, 4, 5 | AC-2 | AC-3 | AC-6, 7 | AC-8, 9, 10 | AC-11, 12 | AC-13, 14 |
The antigens of the EUROLINE ANA Profile 23 were combined in accordance with this accepted international definition. Taking into account screening results from the HEp-2 IFT the multiparametric blot provides differentiation and confirmation of the 23 ANA in a single test run. Blot processing (EUROBlotOne) and evaluation (EUROLineScan) can be fully automated if requested.