Anti-Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Antibodies (ASCA) have been reported in patients with Crohn’s Disease by Main et al. already in 1988. However the methodologies available at the time, Immunofluorescence mainly, and their lack of sensitivity and specificity limited the use of this marker to research. It was the identification of the antigen mannan (an outer cell wall component of yeast) which enabled the set-up of tests in standardized Enzyme Immunoassay format.
Antigen used by D-tek
Purified from Saccharomyces cerevisae (for more information on our antigens click here)