Anti-centromere antibodies
Anti-centromere antibodies (ACAs; often styled solid, anticentromere) are
rheumatic diseases
and in healthy persons.
Anti-centromere antibodies are found in approximately 60% of patients with limited systemic scleroderma and in 15% of those with the diffuse form of scleroderma. The specificity of this test is >98%. Thus, a positive anti-centromere antibody finding is strongly suggestive of limited systemic scleroderma. Anti-centromere antibodies present early in the course of disease and are notably predictive of limited cutaneous involvement and a decreased likelihood of aggressive internal organ involvement, such as fibrosis in the lungs.[1]
When present in
primary biliary cirrhosis, ACAs are prognostic of portal hypertension such that serum ACA levels correlate with the severity of portal hypertension.[2]
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A schematic representation of an antibody
