Detection of antinuclear antibodies by automated indirect immunofluorescence analysis

Second generation analysis of antinuclear antibody (ANA) by combination of screening and confirmatory testing

“…Several automated fluorescent interpretation systems have been developed recently and first reports seem to support their usefulness in routine autoimmune diagnosis [3,25,26,[40][41][42][43][44][45]. For the first time in the history of ANA analysis, this intriguing new technology creates the basis for the combination of screening and corresponding confirmatory testing.…”

Value-added reporting of antinuclear antibody testing by automated indirect immunofluorescence analysis

“…Automated systems for ANA analysis are currently being introduced in laboratories [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Such systems can overcome some of the disadvantages of manual IIF.…”

Role of autoantibody testing

“…The major drawback of IIF assay is that it is a labour-intensive test with multiple steps of incubation and washing, the need for a trained reader and difficult to automate. Recently, attempts to use automated systems for staining slides and reading them have been developed; they are yet to reach a wide applicability for clinical usage [20,21].…”