New Techonology for Autoimmune Testing
New antigen microarrays hold hope for faster diagnosis and better screening

Diagnosis of autoimmune diseases such as Sjögren’s syndrome requires testing of a variety of antigens - those chemical substances recognized as foreign materials by the body. Currently, each antigen is tested separately, which can take weeks. The March issue of Nature Medicine contains news of a new microarray-based technology developed at Stanford University Medical Center that may help solve the problem.

The antigen microarrays consist of glass slides dotted with thousands of proteins and other molecules that are often attacked in autoimmune diseases. Doctors draw a blood sample from the patient and incubate it on the array. Those antibodies that attack molecules on the array will locate and attach to their target. Fluorescent molecules are then added to detect the antibodies, creating colored spots on the slide, showing which antigens the immune system recognized.

P.J. Utz, MD, Assistant Professor of Immunology and Rheumatology, the senior author of the study, says "These arrays could enable a clinician to diagnose the disease on the first visit." He and his fellow researchers hope to uncover the tell-tale patterns of all autoimmune diseases.

Although diagnosing disease may be the microarray’s most immediate use, an array can also help design effective antigen-specific therapies for each autoimmune disease. Such a treatment could target the immune cells causing tissue damage in an individual patient, rather than hindering the entire immune system, as do immunosuppressive medicines such as prednisone.

Microarrays could also help determine who is at future risk of developing a disease because auto-antibodies may be formed years before signs of illness. This research holds out promise that microarrays may be able to predict which patients are most likely to develop a disease in the future and could be used to identify individuals at higher risk - such as those with a family history of autoimmune disease.

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