ITP + ANA Direct positive + RNP high

Hi All,

My name is Mia. I am new to this board. My husband is believed to have mild ITP (low platelets) and had additional blood work done. Back in November (2016) he tested negative for ANA. However, in the blood work that was just completed at the end of July, he tested positive and had RNP antibodies.

Here are his results:
ANA Direct Positive = abnormal
RNP Antibodies >8.0 = high (0- 0.9)

Anti-DNA (DS) Ab Qn <1 = negative (0 - 9)
Smith Antibodies <0.2 = negative (0 - 0.9)
Sjogren's Anti-SS-A and Anti-SS-B <0.2 = negative (0 - 0.9)

Oddly enough he has no symptoms of ITP or Lupus/MCTD. Do these results mean he definitely has lupus/MCTD? If they run them again in 3 months, could he have different results? (That happened with the M2 Antibody test. He tested positive in November 2016 and then negative in March and July 2017.)

Thank you for reading and thank you for any input/advice.

Best,
Mia

Thank you Lynnwood for the response! I've been reading up on Lupus criteria, ANA and RNP.

And I am just a little confused. There is some contradictory information on the web. So some say if you have a positive ANA and a positive RNP without symptoms you will ultimately develop either SLE or MCTD. Others say you may never develop any autoimmune disease and the positive results may change over time. Do you know which is true?

There was someone on this forum that said their positive ANA and RNP turned to negatives when adopting what sounded like an AIP diet (no gluten, dairy, corn, soy, nightshade vegetables, etc.)

Thank you again for your help and input.

Basically, ANA & RNP are indicators that you might have SLE / MCTD, but without symptoms the diagnosis cannot be confirmed. I supposed some Drs may choose to treat (my guess would be with Plaquenil) without symptoms, but the majority would more likely take a wait-and-see approach.

I haven't been able to locate anything that says testing positive means you are any more likely to develop symptoms than the next guy.

I also don't find anything that suggests a particular diet will affect acquisition of a disease. There is *some* indication that nightshade plants and legumes make some SLE symptoms worse, but that is just a general guideline found in the excellent Lupus book, "The Lupus Book: A Guide for Patients and Their Families", by Dr. Daniel Wallace.

(Note that we are not Drs here, just people who have had SLE/UCTD/MCTD...)

Hope that helps.