EB-virus transformed human lymphocytes from uveitis and retinitis pigmentosa patients secrete antibodies to retinal antigens.

Autoimmunity to retinal antigens has been implicated in the pathogenesis of both endogenous posterior uveitis and retinitis pigmentosa. Recent studies, however, suggest that low levels of antibodies to retinal antigens occur generally in the population. We have attempted to maximize antibody secretion by peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients and normal healthy controls using the polyclonal activator, Epstein-Barr virus, to stimulate lymphocytes in vitro. Whereas cells from controls and uveitis patients showed a level of anti-retinal antibody secretion which corresponded with their serum titres of antibodies, patients with retinitis pigmentosa showed a greater tendency to produce high secretor lymphocytes after EB-virus stimulation despite having low serum titres of antibody. This strategy for studying antibody secretion may be of value in unmasking low levels of autoimmune responsiveness in conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa where low grade tissue damage occurs over many years and antigen release is correspondingly too low to initiate a measurable autoimmune reaction.