Immunological studies in retinitis pigmentosa associated with retinal vascular leakage.

Macular Thickness and Aging in Retinitis Pigmentosa

“…The pathophysiology of the macular thickening in the oldest RP patients might be a result of macular edema because of increased vascular permeability and retinal vascular leakage, which have been well recognized in the literature. 23,24 In addition, the age-dependent increase in macular thickness could be explained by glial cell hypertrophy and migration after photoreceptor apoptosis. 25,26 Furthermore, Hood et al 27 suggested that the RNFL stretches to fill the empty space of the degenerative receptors, and this might be another cause for retinal thickening in RP patients.…”

HLA in Autosomal Dominant and Recessive Retinitis pigmentosa

“…RP has been reported to be associated with autoimmune endocrine abnormalities in identical twins [Nye and Howel Evans, 1977] and an increased level of IGM was regularly detected in about a quarter of the patients with RP. An explanation for this finding does not exist up to now [Rahi, 1973;Spalton et al, 1978]. Rocha and Antunes [1977] reported an increased frequency of HLAAw23, 25, HLA-B13, Bwl6, B17 when comparing 70 RP patients with 80 normal subjects.…”

Immune responsiveness to retinal S-antigen and opsin in serpiginous choroiditis and other retinal diseases

“…Retinal detachment may induce cell mediated immune responses to retinal proteins [3]. Different immunological abnormalities and variable in vitro responses to photoreceptor proteins have been found in retinitis pigmentosa [1,[4][5][6][7][8][9]. In addition, other tissue antigens may also elicit autoimmune responses.…”