Experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis (EAU) induced by retinal interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP): differences between EAU induced by IRBP and by S-antigen.

Rats immunized with the retinal interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP) develop an inflammatory eye disease, "experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis" (EAU). The ocular changes which characterize the EAU induced by IRBP resemble those seen in rats which develop EAU by immunization with another retinal protein, S-antigen (S-Ag). Yet, the two antigens do not cross-react antigenically and the two diseases differ by several features: At low doses (less than or equal to 4 micrograms/rat), IRBP was more uveitogenic in Lewis rats than was S-Ag, inducing disease more reproducibly and with earlier onset time. On the other hand, at higher doses (greater than or equal to 20 micrograms/rat) the disease induced by S-Ag was more severe than that induced by the same doses of IRBP. Rats of various inbred strains differed in their susceptibility to EAU induced by these two antigens. In particular, BN rats were more susceptible to IRBP-induced EAU than to the S-Ag-induced disease, while WF and RCS-rdy+ rats developed severe EAU when immunized with S-Ag but showed minimal or no ocular change when immunized with IRBP.