Abstract
Purpose: :
Circulating autoantibodies specific to retinal proteins have been associated with retinal destruction in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR). However, there is a little information on the prevalence of autoantibodies. In this study, we screened diabetic mellitus (DM) patient sera and DR patient sera for the presence of anti–retinal autoantibodies with a view to develop diagnostic markers for DR.
Methods: :
We screened the presence of anti–retina protein antibodies in sera of normal donors, DM patients and DR patients using the proteomics technique, with 2–dimensional electrophoresis (2–DE) immuno–blotting and ESI–MS/MS, which was used to identify anti–retinal antibodies. And then we confirmed the expression level of autoantibody in each patient sera or normal sera by enzyme–linked immunosorbent assay to evaluate the sensitivity and the specificity of autoantibody.
Results: :
There was a higher incidence of anti–retinal autoantibodies in DR than DM or normal donors. We chose the 22 spots in 2–DE immuno–blotting, and identified a total of 19 proteins associated with DR. We selected the creatine kinase BB that has the strongest potential of autoantigens related with DR. The anti–creatine kinase BB autoantibody level in DR patient sera was increased as compared to DM patient sera by enzyme–linked immunosorbent assay (DM versus DR, p < 0.001).
Conclusions: :
The identification of anti–retinal autoantibodies in DR suggests that the anti–creatine kinase BB autoantibodies in serum may be useful as a diagnostic marker of diagnosis of DR.
Keywords: diabetic retinopathy