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Editors Selection IGR 13-4
Basic research: Immunology
Comment by Jonathan Crowston on:
13533 Serum Autoantibodies to α-Fodrin Are Present in Glaucoma Patients from Germany and the United States, Grus FH; Joachim SC; Bruns K et al., Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 2006; 47: 968-976
Healthy human subjects possess a complex repertoire of autoantibodies, which may be distinct from that of patients with certain Glaucoma staging system diseases. Autoantibody profiling may therefore generate disease-specific biomarkers. In this study, Grus et al. (144) analyzed the profiles of autoantibodies directed against bovine optic nerve antigens between two cohorts of glaucoma patients (POAG or NPG) and healthy subjects, from the USA and Europe.
Glaucoma patients have altered antibody profilesThe authors used an autoantibody profiling technique based on Western blotting, digital image analysis and sophisticated statistical methods involving neural networks. The two key findings were that consistent changes existed between autoantibody repertoires of glaucoma and normal subjects in both study populations. Further analysis of the immunoreactive band that most discriminated healthy and glaucoma subjects was performed by tandem mass spectrometry. The 120-kDa band was identified as β -fodrin, which is a major neuronal cytoskeletal protein, thought to be involved in other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.
This study provides further evidence that patients with glaucoma have altered autoantibody profiles. At this stage one can only speculate whether these changes are a cause or a consequence of optic nerve damage, or merely epiphenomena. The value of a diagnostic test that is independent of structural or functional change in the optic nerve, however, is clear.
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