Autoantibodies in pre-clinical autoimmune disease

•The appearance of autoantibodies can precede the clinical onset of autoimmune diseases.•We reviewed evidence that autoantibodies can appear during the pre-clinical phase of autoimmune disease.•We provide comments on the major findings of available studies.

The presence of autoantibodies is characteristic of autoimmune diseases. It is widely accepted that autoantibodies provide crucial diagnostic and prognostic information for autoimmune diseases. Indeed, numerous studies have demonstrated that the appearance of autoantibodies precedes the clinical onset of autoimmune diseases. We performed a literature review regarding the appearance of autoantibodies that preceded the clinical onset of autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren's syndrome, primary biliary cirrhosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and multiple sclerosis. Herein we review and comment on the major findings of these studies.