THE PREVALENCE OF ANTICYTOPLASMIC ANTIBODIES IN CONNECTIVE-TISSUE DISEASES

We investigated the prevalence of anti-cytoplasmic antibodies in the s era of 198 patients with connective tissue diseases, systemic sclerosi s (n = 70), systemic sclerosis/primary biliary cirrhosis overlap syndr ome (n = 10), primary biliary cirrhosis (n = 10), systemic lupus eryth ematosus (n = 57), Sjogren syndrome (n = 22), polymyositis/dermatomyos itis (n = 16) and morphea (n = 13), by indirect immunofluorescence (IF ) of human epithelial (HEp-2) cells. Cytoplasmic IF staining was obser ved in 65 sera (32.8%). The significantly high prevalence of the coars e, granular filamentous speckled pattern was found in SSc/PBS or PBC a lone (p < 0.01) and the diffuse fine speckled pattern in SLE (p < 0.05 ). Anti-cytoplasmic antibodies are frequently found in the sera of pat ients with connective tissue diseases and certain characteristic patte rns on IF are more diagnostic than others.