Clinical Significance of Dense Fine Speckled Pattern in Anti-nuclear Antibody Test Using Indirect Immunofluorescence Method
April 2009
in “
Annals of laboratory medicine
”
TLDR The dense fine speckled pattern in ANA tests is common in autoimmune diseases, challenging previous beliefs that it was unrelated.
Between May 2007 and February 2008, a study involving 2,654 patients who underwent ANA testing using indirect immunofluorescence on HEp-2 cells found that 13.3% (352 patients) were ANA positive, and among these, 28.7% (101 patients) exhibited a dense fine speckled (DFS) pattern. The DFS pattern was more prevalent in patients with autoimmune diseases such as seborrheic dermatitis (14.3%), herpes zoster (11.1%), rheumatoid arthritis (16.9%), systemic lupus erythematosus (15.4%), and Sjogren syndrome (14.3%). These results contradicted earlier beliefs that the DFS pattern was unrelated to autoimmune diseases. The study concluded that the DFS pattern is a common finding in ANA tests, particularly in autoimmune diseases, and suggested the need for further research, including tests for anti-DFS70 antibodies, to better understand the relationship between the DFS pattern and specific diseases.
