ANA are autoantibodies which bind to different cellular nuclear antigens. The nomenclature of ANA is arbitrary and can be the abbreviation of the name of the patient, in whom the antibody was found for the first time, or the abbreviation of a disease strongly associated with this antibody or the chemical structure serving as antigen (Table 6).
Table 6 Nomenclature of ANA
| Antibody |
Origin of the name |
anti-CENP-B |
centromer-protein B |
anti-ds-DNA |
double stranded DNA |
anti-ss-DNA |
single stranded DNA |
anti-histone |
histone protein |
anti-Jo-1 |
patient name |
anti-Ku or anti-SL |
patient name or sicca lupus antigen |
anti-PM-Scl (PM1) |
polymyositis sclerodermie antigen 100 kDa |
anti-Scl-70 |
scleroderma antigen 70 kDa |
anti-Sm |
Smith-antigen |
anti-SS-A/Ro |
Robert-antigen or soluble substance A nuclear antigen |
anti-SS-B/La |
Lane-antigen or soluble substance B nuclear antigen |
ant-U1-snRNP |
small nuclear uridine-rich ribonucleoproteins |
PCNA |
proliferating cell nuclear antigen |
Some of their target antigens are identified at cellular and molecular levels (Table 7).
Table 7 Function of ANA
| Antibody |
Function of the antigen |
Localization |
anti-CENP-B |
80 kD protein of the centromer |
nucleus |
anti-ds-DNA |
tamplate for transcription and replication |
nucleus |
anti-histone |
components of chromatin |
nucleus |
anti-Jo-1 |
histidyl-tRNA synthetase |
nucleus and cytoplasma |
anti-Ku or anti-SL |
? repair DNA termini |
nucleus |
anti-PM-Scl (PM1) |
Unknown |
nucleus |
anti-Scl-70 |
DNA topoisomerase I |
nucleus |
anti-Sm |
spliceosome components |
nucleus |
anti-SS-A/Ro |
Unknown |
nucleus and cytoplasma |
anti-SS-B/La |
transcription termination factor |
nucleus and cytoplasma |
ant-U1-snRNP |
spliceosome components |
nucleus |
PCNA |
auxiliary protein of DNA polymerase a |
nucleus |
|
(ANCA)
