Diagnostic role of anti-dsDNA antibodies: do not forget autoimmune hepatitis

In their Review, Pisetsky and Lipsky highlight the clinical role of antinuclear antibody (ANA) testing in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and properly state that anti-double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) antibodies are highly specific for the diagnosis of SLE; however, they refer to two papers that do not take into account the widely and historically recognized presence of these autoantibodies in individuals with autoimmune hepatitis. In this regard, we would like to discuss that knowledge of anti-dsDNA antibody positivity in autoimmune hepatitis dates back to 1956 when, because of the similarities to SLE, Mackay et al. proposed that this chronic liver disease be named ‘lupoid hepatitis’.