title: From autoantibody research to standardized diagnostic assays in the management of human diseases - report of the 12th Dresden Symposium on Autoantibodies.
abstract: Testing for autoantibodies (AABs) is becoming more and more relevant, not only for diagnosing autoimmune diseases (AIDs) but also for the differentiation of defined AID subtypes with different clinical manifestations, course and prognosis as well as the very early diagnosis for adequate management in the context of personalized medicine. A major challenge to improve diagnostic accuracy is to harmonize or even standardize AAB analyses. This review presents the results of the 12th Dresden Symposium on Autoantibodies that focused on several aspects of improving autoimmune diagnostics. Topics that are addressed include the International Consensus on ANA Patterns (ICAP) and the International Autoantibody Standardization (IAS) initiatives, the optimization of diagnostic algorithms, the description and evaluation of novel disease-specific AABs as well as the development and introduction of novel assays into routine diagnostics. This review also highlights important developments of recent years, most notably the improvement in diagnosing and predicting the course of rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis, idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, and of autoimmune neurological, gastrointestinal and liver diseases; the potential diagnostic role of anti-DFS70 antibodies and tumor-associated AABs. Furthermore, some hot topics in autoimmunity regarding disease pathogenesis and management are described.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Immunology, Medical Faculty of the Technical University of Dresden, Germany k_conrad@mail.zih.tu-dresden.de.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Conrad
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Division, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Immunology Division, Fleury Medicine and Health Laboratories, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: L E C
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Andrade
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: E K L
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: INOVA Diagnostics, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahler
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Laboratory of Immunorheumatology Research, Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Meroni
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: G J M
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Pruijn
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Internal Medicine III, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Steiner
authors.affiliation: Sackler Faculty in Medicine, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Aviv University, Israel Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shoenfeld
mesh_terms: D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015551:Autoimmunity; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies
keywords: ANA; autoantibodies; autoimmune diseases; autoimmunity; diagnostics; standardization