These tests are done by Immunology and require 5-10 mL clotted blood with full clinical details. Other autoimmune tests not listed here may be done in other sections and have different sample requirements - if in doubt as to what sample to take, please contact the laboratory.
The interpretation of all autoantibody tests is highly dependent on the likelihood of disease in the patient. The results should always be interpreted with the clinical features of the patient and never in isolation. Autoantibodies may be present in healthy individuals and may also occur transiently with intercurrent illness or may be induced by drug therapy. Conversely, autoimmune disease may be present in the absence of detectable autoantibodies. Do not use these tests as ‘screens’ for autoimmune disease but rather decide the clinical diagnosis and the likelihood of autoimmune disease and use specific autoantibody tests as diagnostic aids.
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ANA screen, ANA (Hep2 method), dsDNA antibody and ENA antibody |
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ANCA and GBM antibody |
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| Cardiolipin antibody, B2GP1 antibody, APLA. | |
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Coeliac disease (gluten sensitive enteropathy) |
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Mitochondrial antibody, M2 antibody, Smooth muscle antibody, liver-kidney-microsomal antibody, LKM antibody. |
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Specialist autoantibody tests |
Pancreatic islet cell antibody - no longer offered due to poor performance. Please request GAD antibody instead.
Striated muscle antibody no longer available - for investigation of possible myasthenia gravis request acetylcholine receptor antibody only.
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Neurological disease These expensive tests are referred to external laboratories, mostly the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford (via Frimley Park). The tests and disease associations are included in the test information. |
(markers for paraneoplastic neurological syndromes) - antibodies to Hu, ANNA, Yo, APCA1, Ri, ANNA2, Ma2, Amphiphysin, CRMP/CV2, Tr.
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