Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Autoantibodies in patients with glaucoma: a comparison of IgG serum antibodies against retinal, optic nerve, and optic nerve head antigens

  • Laboratory Investigation
  • Published:
Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to analyze and compare the entire IgG autoantibody patterns against different ocular antigens (retina, optic nerve, and optic nerve head) in sera of glaucoma patients and healthy subjects.

Methods

Sixty-six patients were included in this study: healthy volunteers without any ocular disorders (CO, n=30), patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG, n=19), and patients with normal-tension glaucoma (NTG, n=17). The sera were tested for antibodies against retinal, optic nerve, and optic nerve head tissues. Immunodetection was performed using 4-chloro-1-naphthol staining. The autoantibody patterns were digitized and subsequently analyzed by multivariate statistical techniques.

Results

All patients showed a complex repertoire of IgG antibodies against retinal, optic nerve, and optic nerve head antigens. The analysis of discriminance revealed a statistically significant differences between the patterns of all three groups. Our multivariate approach could quantify the differences in immunoreactivities of patient sera against the three antigens. The POAG group had the most significant difference against retinal antigens (P=0.0021) compared with the other antigens. In the NTG group the highest reactivity appeared against optic nerve head (P=0.00053) and optic nerve (P=0.0025).

Conclusions

All groups showed different and complex antibody patterns against the three ocular tissues. These autoantibodies are highly specific for each patient group. The analysis of these patterns could provide further information about possible autoimmune mechanisms in the pathogenesis of glaucoma.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Avrameas S (1991) Natural autoantibodies: from ‘horror autotoxicus’ to ‘gnothi seauton.’ Immunol Today 12:154–159

    Google Scholar 

  2. Coleman AL (1999) Glaucoma. Lancet 354(9192):1803–1810

    Google Scholar 

  3. Duan RS, Wang HB, Yang JS, Scallon B, Link H, Xiao BG (2002) Anti-TNF-α antibodies suppress the development of experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis. J Autoimmun 19(4):169–174

    Google Scholar 

  4. Grus FH, Augustin AJ, Koch F, Zimmermann CW (1996) Autoantibody repertoires in animals with lens-induced uveitis after different therapies using megablot technique: a comparison. Adv Ther 13(4):203–215

    Google Scholar 

  5. Grus FH, Augustin AJ, Toth-Sagi K, Koch F (1997) Detection and evaluation of the IgG autoantibody repertoire against human skeletal muscle antigens in Graves’ disease using the “MegaBlot” technique. Adv Ther 14(1):8–13

    Google Scholar 

  6. Grus FH, Augustin AJ, Zimmermann CW (1997) Computer supported analysis (MegaBlot) of allopurinol induced changes in the autoantibody repertoires of rats suffering from experimental lens-induced uveitis. Electrophoresis 18:516–519

    Google Scholar 

  7. Grus FH, Zimmermann CW (1997) Identification and classification of autoantibody repertoires (Western blots) with a pattern recognition algorithm by an artificial neural network. Electrophoresis 18:1120–1125

    Google Scholar 

  8. Ishii Y, Kwong JM, Caprioli J (2003) Retinal ganglion cell protection with geranylgeranylacetone, a heat shock protein inducer, in a rat glaucoma model. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 44(5):1982–1992

    Google Scholar 

  9. Joachim SC, Grus FH, Pfeiffer N (2003) Analysis of autoantibody repertoires in sera of patients with glaucoma. Eur J Ophthalmol 13(9–10):752–758

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kass MA, Heurer DK, Higginbotham EJ et al (2002) The ocular hypertension treatment study: a randomized trial determines that topical ocular hypotensive medication delays or prevents the onset of primary open-angle glaucoma. Arch Ophthalmol 120:701–713

    Google Scholar 

  11. Maruyama I, Ohguro H, Ikeda Y (2000) Retinal ganglion cells recognized by serum autoantibody against gamma-enolase found in glaucoma patients. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 41(7):1657–1665

    Google Scholar 

  12. Quigley HA (1993) Open-angle glaucoma. N Engl J Med 328(15):1097–1106

    Google Scholar 

  13. Quigley HA (1996) Number of people with glaucoma worldwide. Br J Ophthalmol 80(5):389–393

    Google Scholar 

  14. Romano C, Barrett DA, Li Z, Pestronk A, Wax MB (1995) Anti-rhodopsin antibodies in sera from patients with normal-pressure glaucoma. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 36(10):1968–1975

    Google Scholar 

  15. Schattner A (1987) The origin of autoantibodies. Immunol Lett 14(2):143–153

    Google Scholar 

  16. Singer HS, Loiselle CR, Lee O, Garvey MA, Grus FH (2003) Anti-basal ganglia antibody abnormalities in Sydenham chorea. J Neuroimmunol 136(1–2):154–161

    Google Scholar 

  17. Sommer A, Tielsch JM, Katz J (1991) Relationship between intraocular pressure and primary open angle glaucoma among white and black Americans. The Baltimore eye survey. Arch Ophthalmol 109(8):1090–1095

    Google Scholar 

  18. Tezel G, Seigel GM, Wax MB (1998) Autoantibodies to small heat shock proteins in glaucoma. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 39(12):2277–2287

    Google Scholar 

  19. Tezel G, Edward DP, Wax MB (1999) Serum autoantibodies to optic nerve head glycosaminoglycans in patients with glaucoma. Arch Ophthalmol 117(7):917–924

    Google Scholar 

  20. Tezel G, Hernandez MR, Wax MB (2000) Immunostaining of heat shock proteins in the retina and optic nerve head of normal and glaucomatous eyes. Arch Ophthalmol 118(4):511–518

    Google Scholar 

  21. Tezel G, Wax MB (2000) The mechanism of hsp27 antibody-mediated apoptosis in retinal neuronal cells. J Neurosci 20(10):3552–3562

    Google Scholar 

  22. Tezel G, Li YL, Patil RV, Wax MB (2001) TNF-alpha and TNF-alpha receptor-1 in the retina of normal and glaucomatous eyes. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 42(8):1787–1794

    Google Scholar 

  23. The European Glaucoma Society (2004) www.eugs.org

  24. Ulmansky R, Cohen CJ, Szafer F, Moallem E, Fidlender ZG, Kashi Y, Naparstek Y (2002) Resistance to adjuvant arthritis is due to protective antibodies against heat shock protein surface epitopes and the induction of Il-10 secretion. J Immunol 168(12):6463–6469

    Google Scholar 

  25. Wax MB, Tezel G, Kawase K, Kitazawa Y (2001) Serum autoantibodies to heat shock proteins in glaucoma patients from Japan and the United States. Ophthalmology 108(2):296–302

    Google Scholar 

  26. Wax MB (2001) Serum autoantibodies in patients with glaucoma. J Glaucoma 10(5 Suppl 1):S22–S24

    Google Scholar 

  27. Wax MB, Yang J, Tezel G, Peng G, Patil RV, Calkins DJ (2002) A model of experimental autoimmune glaucoma in rats elicited by immunization with heat shock protein 27. ARVO E-Abstract 2884

  28. Wendlandt JT, Grus FH, Hansen BH, Singer HS (2001) Striatal antibodies in children with Tourette’s syndrome: multivariate discriminant analysis of IgG repertoires. J Neuroimmunol 119(1):106–113

    Google Scholar 

  29. Yang J, Tezel G, Patil RV, Romano C, Wax MB (2001) Serum autoantibodies against glutathione S-transferase in patients with glaucoma. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 42(6):1273–1276

    Google Scholar 

  30. Zimmermann CW, Weiss G (1987) Antibodies not directed against the acetylcholine receptor in myasthenia gravis: an immunoblot study. J Immunol 16:225–236

    Google Scholar 

  31. Zimmermann CW (1993) Repertoires of natural autoantibodies against muscle tissue are independent of age or gender in normal human adults. A Western blot study. Clin Chim Acta 218:29–38

    Google Scholar 

  32. Zimmermann CW, Grus FH, Dux R (1995) Multivariate statistical comparison of autoantibody repertoires (Western blots) by discriminant analysis. Electrophoresis 16(6):941–947

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Franz H. Grus.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Joachim, S.C., Pfeiffer, N. & Grus, F.H. Autoantibodies in patients with glaucoma: a comparison of IgG serum antibodies against retinal, optic nerve, and optic nerve head antigens. Graefe's Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 243, 817–823 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-004-1094-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-004-1094-5

Keywords

Navigation