Laboratory of Clinical Pathology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Azienda Ospedaliera S. Maria degli Angeli, Pordenone, Italy.
Autoimmun Rev. 2012 Aug;11(10):766-70. doi: 10.1016/j.autrev.2012.02.011. Epub 2012 Feb 12.
The objective of this review is to analyze the causes of the increasing interest of laboratory medicine in the definition and characterization of a new sub-discipline, laboratory autoimmunology, concerning the development and the clinical use of tests for measuring circulating autoantibodies and the study of autoimmune serological reactions. The laboratory autoimmunologist's task includes knowledge of the range of technical solutions available to identify the different types of autoantibodies and provide laboratory consult for improving utilization of laboratory results. Along with the figure of the laboratory autoimmunologist, the position of clinical autoimmunologist not only has been proposed but has already found its first concrete applications. This is a specialist with a wide knowledge of those symptoms and diagnostic procedures necessary to identify autoimmune diseases, and who is familiar with the range of therapies available to treat various diseases. Cooperation between the two autoimmunology specialists will lead to a more up-to-date and efficient management of autoimmune patients.
本次综述旨在分析导致实验医学对定义和描述新子学科——实验室自身免疫学科日益关注的原因。该学科涉及用于检测循环自身抗体的试验的开发和临床应用，以及自身免疫血清学反应的研究。实验室自身免疫学家的任务包括了解可用于鉴定不同类型自身抗体的技术解决方案的范围，并提供实验室咨询以提高实验室结果的利用效率。随着实验室自身免疫学家的出现，临床自身免疫学家的职位不仅已经被提出，而且已经找到了其第一个具体应用。临床自身免疫学家是一位具有广泛知识的专家，他了解识别自身免疫性疾病所需的症状和诊断程序，并且熟悉治疗各种疾病的可用疗法范围。这两位自身免疫专家之间的合作将导致对自身免疫患者的管理更加及时和有效。
