ENA Screen

Autoimmune diseases are characterized by an abnormal
functioning of the immune system which mistakenly attacks
healthy body tissue. It results in a change of the
mechanisms of cell recognition, the organism no longer
distinguishes the self from not-self, ie the elements
belonging to it and those that do not. This leads to
production of antibodies that can affect individual organs or
trigger systemic diseases, damaging entire functions of the
individual.
The processes that lead to serious autoimmune disease
are still unknown in many ways.
Rheumatic autoimmune diseases are often associated with
the presence of many autoantibodies directed against
nuclear and cytoplasmic antigens. These antibodies are
commonly called antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and their
presence is important for the detection of different
connective tissue diseases. Although the detection of ANA
is very significant for the diagnosis of autoimmune
disorders, it is not very specific. Therefore it is advisable to
detect for the presence of antibodies against extractable
nuclear antigens (ENA). The six most significant and
investigated ENA autoantibodies are those against Sm,
RNP/Sm, SS-A, SS-B, SCL-70 and Jo1. ENA Screen can
provide important diagnostic informations on patients with
suspected connective tissue diseases such as systemic
lupus erythematosus (SLE), polymyositis, Sjogren
syndrome, scleroderma and mixed connective tissue
disease (MCTD). Every disease does not present a single
parameter, but results in the simultaneous presence of
multiple parameters, although there are autoantibodies that
characterize a pathology better than others. For example,
in Sjogren syndrome there are mainly antibodies against
SS-A and SS-B, while in MCTD the most relevant
antibodies are those against Sm and RNP/Sm.