Browse the corpus

©2013 UpToDate ® Print Email Antinuclear antibody staining patterns Antinuclear antibody staining patterns on mouse liver by immunofluorescence. (Top left panel) There is homogeneous or diffuse staining of the nuclei. The pattern is strongly associated with antibodies to nucleosomes. It is seen in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and drug-induced lupus. (Top right panel) The peripheral (also called rim) pattern, in which the periphery of the nucleus reacts with the patient's serum. This pattern correlates with antibodies to double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) and nuclear envelope proteins and is suggestive of SLE. (Bottom left panel) The speckled pattern in which there may be few or many speckles, and small or large speckles. The pattern represents antibodies to the components of extractable nuclear antigens, eg, Smith (SM), ribonucleoprotein (RNP), Ro (SSA), La (SSB) and probably other nuclear antigens. The pattern may be seen in patients with SLE, Sjögren's syndrome, scleroderma, infectious mononucleosis and other conditions, and in normal subjects (especially in low titer). (Bottom right panel) There is a nucleolar pattern, in which the patient's serum only reacts with the nucleoli. This pattern represents antibodies to nucleolar RNA associated proteins or complexes, and is primarily seen in scleroderma. Courtesy of Peter H Schur, MD.