Laboratory diagnosis of autoimmune diseases - new technologies, old dilemmas

Abstract

s_il za @ya hoo.com Pregledni članak Biochemia Medica Ab stra ct An autoim mu ne di sea se oc cu rs when the bo dyʹs im mu ne system be gi ns to at ta ck its own an ti ge ns. A hal lma rk is the pro duc tion of hi gh-affi ni ty au- toan tibo dies. Diff e re nt tec hniques ha ve been used to de ve lop spe ci fi c tes- ts for au toan tibo dy de tec tion in clu di ng im mu no diff u sion, im mu nob lot ti ng tec hniques, im mu nofl uo res cen ce, en zyme im mu noas says and re cen tly fl ow cyto met ry for mul tip lex bea d-ba sed as says. Due to a va ria bi li ty in as says that has led to con fu sion in re sul ts it is ine vi tab le to con du ct ap prop ria te stan- dardi za tion for tec hniques and met ho ds. For diag nos ti cs tes ts ba sed on an an ti ge n-au toan tibo dy reac tion, the re are no re fe ren ce met ho ds, no exa ct va- lue of the stan da rd and se rum sam ples are he te ro ge neous and diff er from the stan da rd. Cli ni cal diag nos tic com pa nies of ten use a we ll res pec ted com- mer cial te st as a re fe ren ce met hod and lar ge diff e ren ces in te st ca lib ra tion lead to ina dequa te in ter pre ta tion of te st re sul ts. The la bo ra to ry may ha ve di- lem mas about tec hniques that are re le va nt and re liab le to de te ct all cli ni cal ly sig ni fi ca nt au toan tibodies. At the sa me ti me, the ap plied met hod shou ld be a tool for hi gh throug hput, effi cie nt, ea sy to use and inexpen si ve. Stan dar di za tion of au toan tibo dy as say, whet her „ol d“ or „new“, is cri ti cal to their use in the cli nic to pre di ct diag no sis and treat a ve ry di ver se group of au toim mu ne di sor de rs. Keywor ds: autoim mu ne di sea ses; autoan tibo dies; diag nos ti cs; tec hno lo- gies; stan dar di za tio