Anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae Antibodies Are Only Modestly More Common in Subjects Later Developing Crohn's Disease.

Background: The pathogenic processes in the preclinical phase of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are mainly unknown.

Aims: To study typical antibodies for IBD in the preclinical phase in a cohort of Northern Sweden.

Methods: Antibodies typical for IBD (ASCA, pANCA, lactoferrin-ANCA, antibodies to goblet cells, and pancreas antigen) were analyzed in 123 subjects with preclinical ulcerative colitis (UC), 54 subjects with preclinical Crohn's disease (CD) and in 390 sex- and age-matched controls.