Antibody to synthetic poly dAT: correlation with antibody to native DNA and specificity for SLE.

Antibodies to synthetic 3H-poly dAT have the advantage over antibody to native DNA in that they have a higher degree of specificity for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This is because poly dAT eliminates the problem of measurement of single stranded antibodies that are not specific for any one condition but which may be detected by native DNA preparations which usually contain single stranded regions. The overall degree of correlation between the two antibodies is good in SLE. Antibodies to poly dAT correlate well with clinical evidence of disease activity but in this study were not particularly associated with the presence of renal disease.