Work

Investigations of antiretinal antibodies in pigmentary retinopathy and other retinal degenerations.

Year: 1996

Type: article

Abstract: INTRODUCTION Autoimmune retinopathy is currently poorly understood because of limited tools for diagnosing autoimmune pathologic events. A common question is whether antiretinal antibodies, which are often detected in retinal degeneration patients, are secondary to the disease and without pathologic consequence, or whether in some cases they may be the primary cause of the disease? This paper examines several aspects of retinal degenerative diseases that appear to have important components of autoimmunity. Specific diseases for which there are varying amounts of evidence for autoimmune components range from sympathetic ophthalmia and CAR syndrome2 (where the evidence is convincing for a primary autoimmune pathogenesis), to retinal vasculitis,34 Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease5 (where there is good evidence of important autoimmune components), retinitis pigmentosa,6 and macular degeneration78 (where the evidence for demonstrable autoimmune pathologic mechanisms has not been established but autoimmune activity has been measured). Some of the confusion in the field of retinitis pigmentosa has been the inability to convincingly break off defined subgroups with autoimmune components and to establish clear cause-and-effect relationships to the disease processes under study. However, accumulated evidence from the last 20 years suggests that this field of investigation should be pursued. Earlier studies investigating autoimmunity in retinal disease include Spalton and associates,9 who used immunofluorescence techniques that showed binding of antibodies from retenitis pigmentosa patients to rat photoreceptor cells. Brinkman and coworkers'0 investigated the immune status of retinitis pigmentosa patients by stimulating the patients' lymphocytes with retinal antigens and

Source: PubMed

Authors: J R Heckenlively, N Aptsiauri, S Nusinowitz, C Peng, P A Hargrave

Institution: University of California, Los Angeles

Language: English

Topic: Ocular Diseases and Behçet’s Syndrome

Subfield: Ophthalmology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institutes of Health

Awards: Rhodopsin Topography in the Rod Disc Membrane, VISION RESEARCH CORE