The laboratory in autoimmune diseases

This article aims to provide practical guidelines to orient physicians among the laboratory tests currently used in the diagnosis of pediatric autoimmune diseases. The clinical presentation of autoimmune diseases is very complex, and poses real problems for the differential diagnosis. In the recent past, the great progress made in the identification of the major autoantigens involved in many different autoimmune diseases has allowed the development of more precise laboratory methods, thus improving the diagnostic value of serum autoantibody detection in rheumatic, gastrointestinal and endocrine autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, Human Leucocytes Antigens (HLA) typing by serological methods together with the most advanced molecular biology assay, has allowed to better define HLA associations and to clarify the role of HLA typing in the diagnosis of autoimmune disease.