very high ANA

[Jnette1]

I recently had blood work done to test for several autoimmune disorders. Everything except ANA came back normal. I do have other symptoms which could indicate Sjogren's Syndrome, but the blood work for the disease was negative. I am a bit concerned however, because the ANA was so high, 1:1,280. I have had extreme fatigue for several months now as well as headaches, muscle/joint pain, and bloated/tender belly. I have been told in the past that I have Gilbert's Syndrome too due to elevated bilirubin. Other liver functions are normal.
Any suggestions as to what alse may cause such a high ANA? My sed rate is also normal.
Thanks

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

Very high ANA is a feature of SLE,Sjogren’s syndrome(already ruled out in your case), scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, & mixed connective tissue disease.In my opinion,you should discuss these possibilities with your physician and get yourself evaluated for these.You may need various investigations like rheumatoid factor,blood tests and autoantibodies tests esp anti-centromere and anti-scl70/anti-topoisomerase antibodies.

Hope it helps.Take care and pls do keep me posted in case you have any additional doubts.Kind regards.

[Jnette1]

Thanks for the input. The odd thing with my tests is that I was also checked for ra factor, celiac, and dna, a bunch of things I can't remember (blood work results are out in the car at the moment). All of those things as well as the sed rate to indicate inflammation were all negative. I will be seeing my PCP next week to discuss all this. Was just wondering if anyone knew of any other conditions which would cause such a high ana w/out inflammation. This way I could ask my doc about extra testing if symptoms match up. What do the anti-centromere and anti-scl70/anti-topoisomerase test indicate?
Thanks so much!

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

Anti-centromere and anti-scl70/anti-topoisomerase test are the tests that are diagnostic of scleroderma. Scleroderma is an autoimmune disease of the connective tissue and is characterized by the formation of scar tissue (fibrosis) in the skin and organs of the body.

Hope it helps .Take care and pls do keep us posted in case you have any additional queries.Kind regards.

[Jnette1]

Hi Thanks for the info. I will check my labs to see if that was done already and if not ask my PCP about it this week at my follow-up.
Take Care!