Comparative study of anti-double stranded DNA detection by ELISA and Crithidia luciliae immunofluorescence

Two commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and two commercial Crithidia luciliae immunofluorescence tests (CLIF) were reevaluated as to the efficiency and degree of correlation of anti-double stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) detection in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The two ELISAs exhibited an overall agreement of 95% and significantly correlated with each other (r=0.91, p<0.001). They were comparable in sensitivity (64%, 61%) and had the same specificity (95%, 95%). The sensitivity of the two CLIFs was 39% and 29% with corresponding specificities of 100% and 97%, and an overall agreement with each other of 94%. The two ELISAs had comparable specificity to the CLIFs with good agreement (84%, 79%) while they had a much greater sensitivity than the CLIFs. These findings suggest that ELISA is a useful laboratory test for anti-dsDNA detection of SLE due to its simplicity, quantitative results, sensitivity, specificity and cost, as compared to CLIFs.