IDENTIFICATION OF OVARIAN ANTIBODIES BY IMMUNOFLUORESCENCE, ENZYME-LINKED-IMMUNOSORBENT-ASSAY OR IMMUNOBLOTTING IN PREMATURE OVARIAN FAILURE

The development of new techniques for the detection of ovarian antibod ies has challenged early concepts about the rarity of ovarian antibodi es in idiopathic premature ovarian failure (POF), but few attempts hav e been made to compare results between assays. We have sought to defin e the prevalence of ovarian autoimmunity in a group of 30 idiopathic P OF patients compared to a group of 12 patients with POF plus an associ ated autoimmune disease and a group of 38 controls, using an enzyme-li nked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and indirect immunofluorescence (IFL) . Ovarian antibodies were detected in 27% of idiopathic POF patients b y ELISA (not significantly different compared to POF patients with ass ociated autoimmune disease; P < 0.0003 compared to controls) but only 7% of these patients were positive by IFL. In a further, pre-selected group of individuals, all positive for ovarian antibodies by IFL, 53% had measurable antibodies by ELISA. Some overlap was therefore demonst rated between the two techniques but many POF patients had ovarian ant ibodies detectable by only one method. Immunoblotting studies revealed that no consistent pattern of binding could be demonstrated for these patients. These results call into question the specificity of ovarian antibodies as a marker for autoimmune POF.