lupus tests

[katepscot]

I have had so many over the years some neg some positive this time ena positive ana negative and anti Ro positive Anyone know what this means

[brave]

there all relative to autoimmune disease ,which one im not sure ,wishing you well

[Hidden]

ANA just means Anti-Nuclear-Antibodies. According to my (admittedly quite elementary) understanding, people produce ANAs in response to illness. Sometimes they produce antibodies against self - or autoantibodies, which result in a raised ANA. But you can have a raised ANA without having lupus.

A diagnosis of lupus depends on other factors (though I believe there is no single test that shouts LUPUS).

ENA means Extractable Nuclear Antigen - an ENA is one type of ANA, and Anti-Ro is a type of ENA ( others are Anti-La, and Anti-Sm and Anti-Jo).

So the existence of ENA and Anti-Ro together I think means that you are showing anti-bodies against self. This can be a sign of autoimmune disease, though not necessarily Lupus. I would read the fact that these are currently NOT classed as raised (ie - they are types of ANA and your ANA is showing not raised) as saying that you have some antibodies against self, so you do have some kind of autoimmune condition, but this may not be Lupus, and it is currently not showing in your blood as very active.

What other tests did you have done at the same time? A plasma viscosity (PV) test is useful because it will show if there is inflammation or infection anywhere in the body.

Have you had Complement tests? Complement is a component of the blood that is associated withnatural immunity. C3 and C4 are the complement types associated with lupus, and if they are LOW it can mean that you have lupus and that your lupus is active.

Hope this information helps.