top of page

ANA Patterns

Antinuclear Antibody (ANA)

Also Known as: Flourescent Antinuclear Antibody (FANA) or Antinuclear Antibody Screen

Description: Detection of autoantibodies for autoimmune disordersvia fluorescent staining patterns via indirect immunofluorescence (IIF)

Autoantibody
ANA patterns.jpg

Autoantibodies: Antibodies produced by the immune system that cannot distinguish "self" vs "nonself". This causes them to attack the body, causing autimmune disorders

Autoimmune Disorders Detected in ANA:

  • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)

  • Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

  • CREST syndrome

  • Scleroderma

ANA Patterns

Autoimmune Disorders Abbreviations:

  • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)

  • Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

  • Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD)

Neg%20ANA%20pattern_edited.jpg

Negative ANA Pattern

Description: No significant nuclear & cytoplasmic staining.

Speckled%20ANA%20pattern_edited.jpg

Speckled

Description: Fine or course speckles that are distributed in the entire nucleus of cell.

Suspected Antigen Specificity:

  • Sm

  • RNP

Clinical Significance:

  • Sm positive:

    • seen in 4-40% of SLE​

  • RNP positive:​

    • seen in high titers in MCTD and SLE​

Homogenous%20ANA%20pattern_edited.jpg

Homogenous 

Description: Uniform diffuse fluorescence staining of the entire cell. 

Suspected Antigen Specificity:

  • nDNA

  • DNP

  • Histone

  • DNA binding proteins

Clinical Significance:

  • nDNA positive:

    • seen in 60% in SLE

Centromere%20ANA%20pattern_edited.jpg

Centromere

Description: 40 to 80 discrete speckles are stained in the nucleus of cell. Speckles can be aligned in the chromosomal region of mitotic cell.

Suspected Antigen Specificity: 

  • Centromere

Clinical Significance:

  • Seen in 57%-96% of patients with the CREST variant of scleroderma

Peripheral%20ANA%20pattern_edited.jpg

Peripheral

Description: Uniform diffuse fluorescence staining, similar to homogenous pattern, but with greater intensity at the outer rim

Suspected antigen specificity:

  • .Nuclear lamins

Clinical Significance:

  • SLE

  • RA

  • Autoimmune hepatitis

Nucleolar%20ANA%20pattern_edited.jpg

Nucleolar

Description: Homogenous or speckled (clumpy) staining of the nucleolus of cell. 

Suspected Antigen Specificity:

  • Fibrillarin

Clinical Significance:

  • Scleroderma

Heading 4

Sources:

bottom of page