These data indicate that antibodies to lens proteins occur in a high incidence in sera from patients with uveitis. Forty-nine percent of the patients with anterior uveitis and only 12% of healthy controls were positive in the ELISA. In our groups of patients and controls the autoantibodies reacted in the Western blot predominantly with alpha-crystallin. Further studies are required to analyze in more detail the clinical and etiopathogenetic relevance of the antilens antibodies in uveitis.