CIRCULATING CORNEAL EPITHELIUM ANTIBODIES AND IMMUNE-COMPLEXES IN IMMUNOLOGICAL EYE DISORDERS

We investigated the incidence of circulating corneal epithelial antibo dies and the serum levels of immune complexes in patients with immunol ogic disorders associated with the eye. Fifty patients with autoimmune diseases, 29 of whom had Behcet disease, were included in our study. Twenty healthy subjects were used as controls. Twenty-four patients (4 8%) had detectable levels of circulating antibodies against the cornea l epithelium compared with two (10%) of the control subjects. Patient age had a negative effect on the induction of antibodies, whereas ther e were neither positive nor negative associations of antibody positivi ty rates with factors such as gender, the duration of the illness, the activity of the disease, the occurrence rate of the attacks, immune s uppressant therapy, and the levels of circulating immune complexes. Th is study clearly demonstrated the high incidence of corneal antibodies in certain diseases of immunologic origin, including Behcet disease. Further investigations should be done to reveal clues about the presum ed effects of local and systemic factors on the production of anticorn eal antibodies.