The tests sometimes get confused because people who have autoimmune diseases such as Lupus (SLE) often times HAVE autoimmune induced neutropenia and thus have anti-neutrophil antibodies as well. One of the complications of SLE is neutropenia and leukopenia. BUT…not all people with SLE have neutropenia or leukopenia…… The anti-neutrophil test tests for specific neutrophil anitbodies while the ANA tests for or is used as a marker for SLE, RA, SJogren’s, etc and the effectiveness of treatment.
My understanding from the diagnostics books I have is that the ANA test tests for specific types of ANA that include antibodies to deoxyribonucleic acid, nucleoprotein, histones, nuclear ribonucleoprotein and other nuclear constituents. In the chart (Springhouse Diagnostics) they list 14 diseases where one would have a positive ANA test and autoimmune neutropenia is not listed. I’m not a doctor, so it could be a test they use to r/o AIN…. I’m just giving info from the book and it is not listed.
The anti-neutrophil antibody tests for antibodies against the antigens in the cytoplasm of the neutrophil.
The anti-neutrophil antibody test can be called the anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) or some labs simply call it the Anti-neutrophil antibody w/o using an acronym here is what one lab says about the anti-neutrophil antibody test. It can get confusing because of the SLE (Lupus) connection of the two tests--
Again—I am not a doctor—just going on what I have read. My diagnostics testing books list them separately—and I could be interpreting that in the wrong way—so take what I write here with a grain of salt. Below is a bit of info on both tests from the internet—these are from ARUP’S laboratory test directory. ARUP’S lists them as two separate tests.
0055506: Anti-Neutrophil Antibody
See Frequently Asked Questions for this test.
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Test Mnemonic: ANTI-NEU/*EXISTMNEMONIC>
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Reference Interval:
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Negative /*EXISTREFRANGE>/*EXISTREFRANGESET>/#EXISTINTERPDATASET>
Interpretive Data:
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Anti-neutrophil antibody has been implicated in causing the neutropenia of various autoimmune disorders, including Felty syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and drug-induced neutropenia. Isoimmune destruction may be caused by antibodies to neutrophil-specific antigens and HLA antigens in febrile transfusion reactions and isoimmune neonatal neutropenia. Circulating antibodies in patient's serum are measured by flow cytometry after incubation with normal neutrophils. Values greater than 2 standard deviations of the control population are interpreted as "weakly positive" and greater than 3 standard deviations as "positive." The ANA is the Antinuclear antibody test.
0050080: Anti-Nuclear Antibodies (ANA), IgG Screen with Reflex to IFA Titer
See Frequently Asked Questions for this test.
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Test Mnemonic: ANA/*EXISTMNEMONIC>
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Reference Interval:
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None detected /*EXISTREFRANGE>
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Interpretive Data:
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ANA samples are screened using an ELISA assay. All samples that screen positive or equivocal are titered using HEp-2 cells, and the titer and pattern will be reported. Anti-nuclear antibodies are seen in a variety of systemic rheumatic diseases. In general, a titer greater than or equal to 1:160 is considered a significant positive. Titers less than or equal to 1:80 are usually of no or questionable significance. Low titer ANAs are common with advancing age. /*EXISTINTERPDATA>
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Note:
When cell culture substrates (HEp-2 cells) are used, the ANA incidence is 99% in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 85% in Sjögren syndrome, 88% in scleroderma, 55% in rheumatoid arthritis, and 40% in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. ARUP uses anti-human IgG conjugate since many (20-77%) normal individuals have low levels (1:10 to 1:80) of ANA-IgM. Conversion of ANAs from IgM to IgG generally precedes the onset of autoimmune disease states. If the physician feels that the patient may have an autoimmune disease that is the result of an atypical ANA, please contact the ARUP Immunology Lab to discuss alternative testing.
