Anti‐DFS70 antibodies in 597 healthy hospital workers

Abstract

Considering that anti-DFS70 antibody positivity is rare in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases, introducing the anti-DFS70 antibody examination as a screening test for ANA-positive persons could be used to rule out systemic autoimmune diseases, resulting in considerable cost-saving potential. In addition, this test defines a subpopulation of healthy people in whom long-term followup might reveal health-related implications of this finding, since anti-DFS70 antibodies have been shown to be associated with some illnesses.