Immunochemical analysis of periretinal membranes. Review and outlook.

The progressive immobilization of retinal detachment through periretinal membrane formation is a major cause of blindness and difficult to treat. Initial morphological studies have revealed several features of the natural history, but immunochemistry yielded the most important results. Among the antigens detected in periretinal membranes are GFAP, keratin, vimentin, actin, fibronectin, collagen, and macrophage antigen. Immunochemical findings, however, have to be carefully interpreted and several pitfalls have to be avoided. The significance of new interesting factors in proliferative intraocular disease, e.g. platelet-derived growth factor, transforming growth factor-beta, or the recently described integrins, is most likely to be determined by detailed immunochemical studies on surgically obtained human specimens.