Antinuclear antibody positivity

What it means

The presence of autoantibodies in the serum that react against nuclei or nuclear components.

Antinuclear antibodies (ANAs) are found in patients with a number of different autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjogren's syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, polymyositis, scleroderma, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, juvenile diabetes mellitus, Addison disease, vitiligo, pernicious anemia, glomerulonephritis, and pulmonary fibrosis. ANAs can display various staining patterns such as homogeneous or diffuse; speckled; nucleolar; and peripheral or rim.

Rare diseases that can present with this40

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions, and Orphanet separately records 1 disease where this sign is specifically absent. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category

Also called: Antinuclear antibodies · Antinuclear antibody positive · Elevated antinuclear antibody · Serum antinuclear antibody