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Review
. 2020 Sep;68(9):1829-1837.
doi: 10.4103/ijo.IJO_786_20.

An update on autoimmune retinopathy

Parthopratim Dutta Majumder  1 , Alessandro Marchese  2 , Francesco Pichi  3 , Itika Garg  4 , Aniruddha Agarwal  5
Affiliations
Review

An update on autoimmune retinopathy

Parthopratim Dutta Majumder et al. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Autoimmune retinopathy (AIR) refers to a group of rare autoimmune retinal degenerative diseases presumably caused by cross-reactivity of serum autoantibodies against retinal antigens. The pathogenesis of AIR remains largely presumptive and there are a significant number of antiretinal antibodies that have been detected in association with AIR. The diagnosis of AIR is largely based on the demonstration of antiretinal antibodies in the serum along with suggestive clinical features and ancillary investigations. A high index of suspicion along with early diagnosis and treatment may play a critical role to lower the risk of irreversible immunological damage to the retinal cells in these patients. A multi-disciplinary approach for complete management and evaluation is helpful in such conditions. Various therapeutic options have been described for the treatment of AIR, though there is no consensus on standard treatment protocol.

Keywords: Autoimmune retinopathy; cancer-associated retinopathy; enolase; melanoma-associated retinopathy; recoverin.

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Conflict of interest statement

None

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Graphical outline on proposed mechanism of autoimmune retinopathy involving anti-recovering antibody
Figure 2
Figure 2
Ultra-wide field fundus imaging of a patient with autoimmune retinopathy (non-paraneoplastic subtype) in a 45-year-old female (a and b). The fundus does not show any significant clinically visible changes. The fundus autofluorescence images (c and d) show very subtle changes especially in the nasal part of the left eye (d). There are stippled areas of hypo-autofluorescence corresponding to the retinal pigment epithelial damage
Figure 3
Figure 3
Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) of the same patient shows presence of intraretinal cystic spaces in the right eye (yellow arrows) in the perifoveal region. There is increase in the overall central macular thickness (a). The left eye shows mild increase in central retinal thickness (b). The visual field analysis (c and d) shows severe generalized field loss especially in the right eye and loss of nasal field in the left eye
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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