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Review
. 2009 Mar;8(5):410-4.
doi: 10.1016/j.autrev.2009.01.002. Epub 2009 Jan 23.

Autoantibody targets and their cancer relationship in the pathogenicity of paraneoplastic retinopathy

Grazyna Adamus  1
Affiliations
Review

Autoantibody targets and their cancer relationship in the pathogenicity of paraneoplastic retinopathy

Grazyna Adamus. Autoimmun Rev. 2009 Mar.

Abstract

Paraneoplastic retinopathies (PR), including cancer-associated retinopathy (CAR) or the closely related melanoma-associated retinopathy (MAR) occur in a small subset of patients with retinal degeneration and systemic cancer. This autoimmune syndrome is characterized by sudden, progressive loss of vision in association with circulating anti-retinal autoantibodies. The PR syndromes are heterogeneous, may produce a number of ocular symptoms, and may be associated with several different neoplasms, including lung, breast, prostate, gynecological, and colon cancer, melanoma, and hematologic malignancies. We examined the onset of retinopathy in correlation to the diagnosis of cancer and the presence of specific anti-retinal autoantibodies in PR patients. In some patients without diagnosed malignant tumors, the onset of ocular symptoms and the presence of autoantibodies preceded the diagnosis of cancer by months to years, including anti-recoverin, anti-transducin-alpha, and anti-carbonic anhydrase II antibodies. Although anti-retinal autoantibodies may not be a good predictor of a specific neoplasm, they can be used as biomarkers for different subtypes of retinopathy. Identification of autoantibodies involved in autoimmune-mediated PR will help elucidate the mechanisms underlying the PR syndromes and develop targeted therapies for these sight-threatening disorders.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A diagram showing a relationship between the detection of specific autoantibodies and the time of cancer diagnosis in patients with visual symptoms. Autoantibodies specific against recoverin, transducin-α, α-enolase and carbonic anhydrase II (CAII) can be found months to years before cancer is clinically detected
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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