Journal of Clinical and Cellular Immunology
Open Access

Abstract

Serum Antinuclear Antibodies as Indicator of Relapse in Patients with Non- Hodgkins Lymphoma

Manal Mohamed Saber

Background: The association of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) has been reported in Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). This study was conducted to assess the serum levels of ANA in NHL patients and its relationships with prognosis.
Subjects and methods: This study included 64 patients with NHL and 30 healthy controls. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to determine serum levels of ANA.
Results: There were significant differences in the serum ANA between NHL patients and controls (P<0.001). ANA positivity was detected in 19 NHL patients (29.6%). Positive ANA levels were observed in 17 patients in relapse of 19 (89.4%). No significant association was found between serum ANA levels and various clinicopathological and hematological features. There was a significant association between ANA levels and leukocyte common antigen (LCA) (P=0.010). ROC curve was applied to assess the diagnosis of relapse in NHL with cutoff >0.8 (AUC: 0.876).
Conclusion: Our data argue that positive ANA levels can be useful for diagnosis of relapse in NHL patients.