Anti-Centromere Ab
(ACAs)

Sample type:

Uses:

The most common setting for finding anti-centromere antibodies is in patients with a limited cutaneous form of scleroderma. Anti-centromere abs are found in 22% of patients with systemic sclerosis and in 12% of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, and are rarely present in normal individuals.

Precautions:

Separate serum from cells ASAP or within 2 hours of collection. Transfer 1 mL serum to an ARUP Standard Transport Tube. (Min: 0.25 mL).
Don’t take any antibiotics or other medicine before doing the test. This will affect the result of the test.

Interfering Factors:

A centromere antibody test can be positive in some other autoimmune disorders, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus), rheumatoid arthritis, or primary biliary cirrhosis.
Typically, only people who have CREST symptoms are tested for ACA. However, some people may be positive for ACA prior to the development of these symptoms and the centromere antibody test may be performed in conjunction with testing for other autoimmune disorders.
The amount of ACA present does not, in general, correlate to the severity of a person’s symptoms.

Pre analytical errors:

1) Using un sterilized syrnge during taking sample.

2) Hemolyzed, clotted, and insufficient samples.

Corrective action:

1) Use sterilized syrnge during taking sample.

2) Reject any hemolyzed, clotted, and insufficient samples.

Post analytical errors:

1) Failure in reporting.

2) Erroneous validation of analytical data.

3) Improper data entry.

Corrective action:

1) Write correct report.

2) All analytical data should be valid

3) Proper data entery

Reference range:

29 AU/mL or less Negative

30-40 AU/mL Equivocal

41 AU/mL or greater Positive