Autoantibodies for Diagnostics, Prognostics, and Surveillance in Autoimmune Disease

Presence of autoantibodies is usually a sign of autoimmune disease, although low levels of autoantibodies may also be found in healthy individuals. The discovery of autoantibodies and their associations with autoimmune disease have improved the knowledge of disease mechanisms in autoimmunity as well as clinical diagnostics over the years. Lack of immune tolerance and increased production of antibodies directed against self-antigens may induce or drive autoimmune disease as clearly demonstrated for TSH receptor antibodies in Graves’ disease. Autoantibodies could also be a biomarker of an autoimmune disease, but without distinct pathophysiologic relevance; this could be exemplified by smooth muscle antibodies (SMA) in autoimmune hepatitis. Most autoimmune diseases, e.g., systemic lupus erythematosus, myositis and Sjögren’s syndrome, are however characterized by a mixture of autoantibodies of varying degrees of pathogenic potentiality, and which can be used to guide the physician to a correct diagnosis or prognosticate disease severity, disease manifestations, or response to treatments.

Neither the discovery of autoantibodies nor their connection to autoimmune diseases constitutes new knowledge. However, new autoantibodies of clinical relevance are continuously discovered, and novel application areas for “old” autoantibodies appear. Since autoantibodies may aid clinical decisions regarding diagnostics, follow-up, prognostics, and tailored treatment strategies, it is of importance to optimize the use of known autoantibodies as well as to discover new autoantibodies of clinical relevance.

The goal of this research topic is to gather new insights on clinical applications of new and established autoantibodies in autoimmune diseases. Clinical use of autoantibodies has the potential to facilitate early diagnosis, targeted treatment, and better long-term outcomes for patients with autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, the discovery of (new) autoantibodies and their autoantigens may give clues to disease mechanisms and reveal new areas of research.

We hope to attract an interesting collection of articles (Original article, Brief Research Report, Review, Mini-Review, and Case report) addressing new aspects on autoantibodies in autoimmune diseases, including but not limited to:

1) Diagnostics of autoimmune diseases

2) Disease phenotyping

3) Prognostication of disease course

4) Surveillance of disease activity

5) Response to therapy

6) The pathophysiological role of autoantibodies

7) Methodology and assays for improved autoantibody assessment

8) Mechanistic function of autoantibodies in disease pathologies

Topic Editor Ioannis Parodis has received financial support from AmGen, AstraZeneca, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, Elli Lilly and Company, Gilead Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, and F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG. Topic Editor Ingrid Lundberg has received financial support from Corbus Pharmaceuticals and AstraZeneca and owns stocks/shares in Novartis and Roche. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.