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Antinuclear Antibody (ANA) Testing in Patients Treated With Biological DMARDs: Is It Useful?

  • Vasculitis (L Espinoza, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

The appearance of biologic agents for the treatment of diverse autoimmune diseases in particular rheumatoid arthritis at the end of the 1990s changed the treatment of these patients. With the introduction of new agents in the treatment of rheumatic diseases, we started to notice the presence of new and sometimes unexpected adverse events. It is well recognized that infections are the main concern with these types of treatments; however, the occurrence of autoimmune abnormalities is also seen and its gaining perhaps more attention as the use of these agents is increasing. The first clinical trials of anti-tumor necrosis factor-α (anti-TNFα) inhibitors showed an increase of antinuclear and anti-double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (dsDNA) antibodies in patients treated with these agents. In this paper, we review the frequency of these autoantibodies in patients treated with biologic agents, particularly anti-TNF-α inhibitors, and its correlation with autoimmune processes as well as the clinical relevance of such findings.

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Acknowledgments

I. García-De La Torre is a member of the SNI (Mexican National Research System) Level II. I. García-Valladares is supported by a Scholarship from CONACyT (Mexican National Council of Science and Technology).

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Conflict of Interest

Ignacio García-De La Torre and Ignacio García-Valladares declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Immunology and Rheumatology, Hospital General de Occidente and Universidad de Guadalajara, Avenida Zoquipan No. 1050, Colonia Seattle, Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico

    Ignacio García-De LaTorre & Ignacio García-Valladares

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  1. Ignacio García-De LaTorre
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  2. Ignacio García-Valladares
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Correspondence to Ignacio García-De LaTorre.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Vasculitis

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García-De LaTorre, I., García-Valladares, I. Antinuclear Antibody (ANA) Testing in Patients Treated With Biological DMARDs: Is It Useful?. Curr Rheumatol Rep 17, 23 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11926-015-0500-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11926-015-0500-9

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