Objective · To investigate the characteristics and clinical application value of anti-double stranded DNA (dsDNA) antibody detectedenzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Methods · 186 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, 183 autoimmune disease of non-SLE controls, 78 non-autoimmune disease controls and 50 healthy controls were selected. The serum anti-dsDNA antibody was detected simultaneouslythe methods of ELISA and radioimmunoassay (RIA) and their diagnostic efficacies for detection were compared. Results · The sensitivities of anti-dsDNA antibody in SLERIA and ELISA were 47.31% and 62.90%, respectively. The specificities were 85.85% and 81.67%, respectively. The positive predictive were 66.67% and 67.24%, respectively. The negative predictive were 73.15% and 78.14%, respectively. The anti-dsDNA antibody levels of SLE patients detectedELISA and RIA both increased with the increase of SLE disease activity index. Conclusion · The specificity of ELISA is similar with RIA in diagnosing SLE, and the sensitivity is higher than RIA, which can screen the patients with SLE. In addition, the two methods are both suifor monitoring the condition of SLE.