Anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae Antibodies Autoimmune Diseases

The introduction of anti-. Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies (ASCA) in the past decade has provided a major diagnostic tool for the differentiation between Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). Furthermore, ASCA may be useful in identifying relatives of patients with IBD who are at risk for future development of the disease. Although ASCA were claimed to be quite specific for CD, a growing number of studies identified high levels of ASCA in several other autoimmune diseases, among them Behçet's disease, celiac disease, spondyloarthropathies, autoimmune liver diseases, and systemic lupus erythematosus. We may, therefore, not be dealing with a CD-specific antibody, but rather a panel of ASCA-associated diseases, of which CD is the prototype. The possible pathogenic potential of ASCA requires further investigation in human patients as well as in experimental animal models.