Anti-glomerular basement membrane disease: role of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays in diagnosis.

We compared two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests with indirect immunofluorescence (IFA) for the measurement of anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) antibodies to study their sensitivity and specificity. The first ELISA test kit compared well to IFA (96.4% agreement, 93.3% sensitivity, 97.0% specificity). The second ELISA kit was much less sensitive (87.8% agreement, 63.3% sensitivity, 92.2% specificity). ELISA tests for the measurement of anti-GBM antibodies allow for quantitation and may have greater sensitivity than IFA. Sensitivity, however, may depend on the commercial test used.