A novel antinuclear antibody associated with a lupus-like paraneoplastic syndrome

Abstract

The association of malignancy with lupus-like syndromes is rare, and the relation between these two processes is uncertain. A 71-year-old woman who presented with serositis, Raynaud phenomenon, and positive results on an antinuclear antibody test was initially thought to have systemic lupus erythematosus but was found to have ovarian adenocarcinoma. A unique sparsely speckled antinuclear antibody pattern was seen. The patient's sera reacted to novel antigens with six bands of 100, 80-78, 48, and 17 kD on Western blots not typical of reactivity for sera from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.