Published: October 2025
Medically reviewed by:
James Whitehurst, MD, PhD
Illuminating a path towards optimized patient outcomes
Presented by Derrick Varner, PhD, PA-C, DFAAPA, RDMS
How can we cut through the fog that surrounds autoimmune disease diagnosis? With optimized testing including antigen sources and test performance, laboratorians can meet the growing need for autoimmune testing and drive better patient outcomes. Watch our continuing education webinar (click on the graphic below) from Lab Week 2025 to see how.
Presented by:
Derrick Varner, PhD, PA-C, DFAAPA, RDMS, is a Senior Clinical Educator at Thermo Fisher Scientific. He is also a practicing provider with 25 years of experience. His focus includes identifying opportunities to improve patient care through diagnostics applications.
Shining a light through the fog of autoimmune disease
It’s not your imagination — autoimmune diseases are on the rise. It’s estimated that the yearly increase in autoimmune diseases worldwide is 19%.1 The prevalence of antinuclear antibodies (ANA), the primary screening criteria for autoimmune conditions, in U.S. patients has increased from 11% in the early 1990s to 16% by 2012.1
The increase in autoimmune conditions means more patients are going through the lengthy process of identifying and diagnosing autoimmune diseases, a process that can take years.2 And, it means more testing volume for the laboratories, which are critical to a differential diagnosis and getting to the bottom of these complex diseases.
How can we improve the diagnostic process and deliver better outcomes for patients? As you'll see in this Lab Week 2025 on-demand webinar, optimizing testing with antigen source and test performance is crucial to improving throughput, accuracy and, ultimately, patient outcomes.
Challenges in autoimmune disease diagnosis
Autoimmune diseases are complex conditions where the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues.3 Autoimmune diseases are estimated to comprise more than 80 diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, and their causes are not fully understood but are considered to be the result of many factors, including:1,3
- Genetic risk factors
- Immune system deficiencies
- Hormonal influence
- Environmental triggers
In the webinar, Derrick Varner highlighted that nearly 80% of patients with an autoimmune disease are women, suggesting the important role of different hormones.4 Advances in genomics have revealed the significance of genetic factors in autoimmune conditions, but the interplay of environmental factors is critical yet still poorly understood. Changes in our diets, lifestyle factors, pollution and climate change impacts have all been noted as potential influences.1
Did you know?
Women comprise nearly 80% of all patients with an autoimmune disease.4
The challenge for healthcare professionals is to evaluate numerous symptoms and attempt to identify useful testing protocols. This can be particularly difficult for primary care providers — often a patient’s first stop with recurrent or nonspecific autoimmune disease symptoms — who have to navigate the complexity of these conditions. This is why autoimmune diagnostic testing is so important since it can help healthcare providers identify what is happening with patients and lead to faster diagnosis and symptom management.
How to improve autoimmune disease testing
If diagnostic testing is so valuable for autoimmune conditions, why does it take years to make an accurate diagnosis? That’s because some lab tests, like ANA testing, are complex.
An ANA test by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA or IIA) has been the standard approach for many years, but this process is influenced by the experience level of the technician and even the equipment being used.5 It also lacks sensitivity and specificity for certain autoantibodies.6
Blood tests with high sensitivity and specificity are therefore crucial to overcoming these challenges. As Derrick explained in the webinar, sensitivity is like casting a wide net in the ocean — it catches lots of different fish, which require sorting and identification. Specificity, on the other hand, is like fishing with a spear. It results in fewer fish and reduces false positives. In this case, it means ruling out false positives.
In the webinar, Derrick said that combining IFA/IIA with solid-phase fluorescent enzyme immunoassays (FEIA) allows laboratorians to address sensitivity and specificity gaps. One study found that the use of both laboratory testing approaches improves diagnostic accuracy for autoimmune conditions.6
Does this mean that labs must add additional equipment? No. With solutions like the Phadia™ 250 instrument or Phadia™ 2500 series, labs can run multiple autoimmune test types as well as allergy diagnostics all on one platform. These systems offer EliA™ assays that can be used in conjunction with IFA/IIA. And, since the Phadia™ Laboratory Systems uses a master isotype calibration curve, it remains accurate for up to 28 days before needing recalibration. These solutions can increase testing throughput and accuracy, all of which support better diagnostic processes for labs and better patient care.
Identifying autoimmune diseases is complicated, and with the increasing prevalence of these conditions, medical providers and labs will be under even more pressure to provide timely, accurate test results. Optimizing testing with solid-phase assays that can complement IFA/IIF testing is an important advancement in patient care, and by implementing solutions from Phadia Laboratory Systems, labs will be better prepared to support health professionals and their patients.
