ANA refers to antinuclear antibodies. What are antinuclear antibodies and what does a positive ANA test tells us?
Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) is also called the antinuclear factor, these are the type of autoantibodies who binds with the cell nucleus.
Normally antibodies are produced against antigens (foreign harmful particles) but these antibodies can attack our body's own cell by attaching with the body's own protein. This resulted in many types of autoimmune disorders such as autoimmune hepatitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, polymyositis, scleroderma, etc.
ANA test detects the presence of ANA antibody's in blood serum. Positive ANA result indicates may their presence of an autoimmune disease or some certain types of cancer. A Positive ANA result always not indicate an autoimmune diseases, some certain types of cancer and infection also causes a Positive ANA result.
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