SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTION PATTERN OF ANTIBODY TO DNA IN LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS SERA.

Abstract

Abstract By means of the indirect fluorescent antibody technique for detection of antinuclear antibodies, homogeneous and speckled nuclear patterns have previously been demonstrated. Of 34 sera yielding some kind of reaction with nuclei by the above technique, a new nuclear reaction pattern was seen with sera of 5 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. The distinctive features of this new pattern are described, and the term shaggy is adopted for its designation. Because of positive complement fixation tests with DNA in only these 5 sera, an attempt was made to understand the significance of this new nuclear staining pattern. Evidence is given that DNA is exuding from nuclei when the cell preparations are incubated with phosphate buffer, pH 7, and that this shaggy pattern is the expression of DNA antigen and antibody precipitates.