Antibodies to alpha B-crystallin, vimentin, and heat shock protein 70 in aqueous humor of patients with normal tension glaucoma and IgG antibody patterns against retinal antigen in aqueous humor.

PURPOSE: To show the existence of IgG antibodies against retinal antigens in aqueous humor of normal tension glaucoma patients.
METHODS: Forty-two patients were included in this study. Aqueous humor was collected from control subjects (CO; n = 21) and patients with normal tension glaucoma (NTG; n = 21). Western blot methods against bovine retinal antigens were used to detect the IgG antibody patterns. The complex antibody repertoires were analyzed by multivariate statistical techniques. Mass spectrometry was used to identify the most important antigens.
RESULTS: Very complex IgG antibody patterns against retinal antigens were found in all analyzed aqueous humor samples. Our multivariate approach could quantify differences in immunoreactivities, and including all peaks, the analysis of discriminance revealed a statistical significant difference between the patterns of the NTG and the CO group (p < 0.001). The antigen band at 21 kDa was identified as alpha B-crystallin, the 57-kDa antigen band as vimentin, and one at 70 kDa as heat shock protein 70.
CONCLUSIONS: We could demonstrate that complex IgG antibody patterns against retina exist in aqueous humor. The significant differences in the antibody pattern of the glaucoma group compared with the nonglaucoma group in aqueous humor confirm the results of previous studies using sera of glaucoma patients. These differences in antibody patterns might be further evidence for an autoimmune involvement in the pathogenesis of some glaucoma patients.