The peptide-expressing phage clones so far isolated are useful probes for defining
subspecificities of anti-CENP-A antibodies and for investigating their potential clinical
correlates, with the aim of gaining insight into the functional significance of anti-CENP-A
antibodies. Finally, anti-CENP-A antibodies are not a part of natural human Ig repertoire, and
tissue overexpression of CENP-A is not sufficient for anti-CENP-A antibody generation.
Therefore, although we have excluded some possible explanations for the presence of anti-
CENP-A antibodies in SSc patients, the actual pathogenetic mechanism leading to their
generation remains unknown.