ABSTRACT
The authors compared two different techniques for the detection of anti-ENA antibodies (anti-Sm, anti-RNP, anti-SSA, anti-SSB) in several different connective tissue diseases, using double immunodiffusion (ID) and a new membrane-based enzyme immunoassay. The aim of the work was to research the assay sensibility and specificity of the results obtained with the two different methods. Notwithstanding the fact that the two techniques are equivalent in their performance, the recombinant DNA appears to have greater sensibility and less specificity compared to ID. The former requires less time of execution although it presents difficulty in interpreting low scale positive results. Although the number of sera examined was low, the authors assert that the recombinant DNA technique will require further development.
