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"Predictive autoantibodies will have
multiple uses in the future years. They may
be valuable adjuncts in predicting the
likelihood of developing clinical disease
before the diagnostic signs are evident.
They will have value in teaching us about
the natural history of disease, particularly
in providing information about the length of
the prodromal period when the
immune-mediated destructive process is
silently underway", Noel R. Rose (Johns
Hopkins University Baltimore) notes.
"Autoantibodies will help in better
classification of disease. For example, the
presence of the characteristic diabetes
antibodies in adult patients with diabetes
may indicate late onset autoimmune diabetes.
Predictive autoantibodies may provide useful
information about the prognosis and future
course of diseases including the nature and
severity of complications, and thereby help
to design treatment. They may foretell the
impending onset of a second or third
autoimmune disease in patients with one
autoimmune disorder. Finally, predictive
autoantibodies may have value in selecting
subjects for therapeutic trials in which the
likelyhood of disease is much greater than
in the general population.
In future years, broader application of
predictive antibodies will be possible
because of advances in proteomics and
technologic improvement. These newer
developments allow testing a large number of
autoantibodies (multiplexing) in a
relatively rapid and inexpensive manner ..."
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