Antinuclear antibodies in patients with Raynaud's phenomenon: clinical significance of anticentromere antibodies.

Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) were detected in the sera of 73 out of 138 patients (53%) referred to us because of Raynaud's phenomenon. When ANA were found, systemic manifestations were likely to be present. The use of human fibroblast monolayers as a nuclear substrate allowed differentiation of several fluorescence patterns, including the discrete speckled variety produced by anticentromere antibodies. These antibodies were detected in the sera of 7 out of 10 patients with CRST syndrome (70%), in 7 out of 40 patients with scleroderma (18%), all without kidney-involvement, in one patient with Sjögren's syndrome and severe Raynaud's phenomenon, and in 7 patients with Raynaud's phenomenon associated with a few symptoms of a connective tissue disease (especially scleroderma). ANA testing on tissue culture monolayers in Raynaud's phenomenon appears to be of value in predicting systemic disease manifestations and the presence or possible future development of distinct clinical patterns, especially the CRST syndrome.