Europ attern microscope

Antinuclear antibodies such as ANA and ASMA were measured by an automatic indirect immunofluorescence device Sprinter XL (EUROIMMUN, Cermany) and analyzed by automatic EUROP attern Microscope (EUROIMMUN, Cermany). Hepatic biochemical indexs such as alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminstransferase (AST), albumin (ALB) and total bilirubin (TB) were measured by HITACHI 7600 (HITACHI, Japan). Immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels were detected by cobas c311 analyzer (Roche, Switzerland).

Samples were analyzed on HEp-20-10 slides in a 1/100 dilution (Euroimmun, Lübeck, Germany). The assay was conducted according to manufacturer’s instructions. The cut-off decision for positivity is an antibody titer of 1/100. If positive, samples were titrated (1/320 and 1/1000). Images of the incubated slides were automatically acquired by the EUROPattern microscope (Euroimmun, Germany) and digitally transferred into the software for further evaluation. Images were interpreted, once automatically by the EPa software (Euroimmun, Lübeck, Germany) and, in a parallel approach, visually by two independent individuals (Observer 1 and 2). IIF images were evaluated with respect to negativity/positivity, pattern (homogeneous, speckled, nucleolar, centromere, nuclear dot, nuclear membrane, cytoplasmic) and titer (1:100; 1:320; 1:1000; > 1:1000).