ANTIBODY REACTIONS WITH RETINA AND CANCER-ASSOCIATED ANTIGENS IN 10 PATIENTS WITH CANCER-ASSOCIATED RETINOPATHY

Objective: Our objectives were to determine what clinical characterist ics are common to the form of cancer-associated retinopathy (CAR) enco untered in patients with small-cell carcinoma of the lung (SCCL). Is t he 23-kd retinal CAR antigen/antibody reaction present in other forms of retinopathy? Can an antigen identical or similar to the 23-kd retin al CAR antigen be identified in an established culture of SCCL? Method s: Ten patients with CAR who had SCCL were identified by their antibod y reactivity with the 23-kd retinal CAR antigen. We inquired into comm on clinical characteristics by means of questionnaires to the referrin g physicians. We looked for antigen/antibody reactions with the 23-kd retinal CAR antigen in patients with diabetic and age-related macular degenerations and in a continuous, in vitro propagated culture of SCCL (HTB 119) obtained from the American Type Culture Collection. Result: We encountered many similar signs and symptoms in our patient populat ion. These included rapid vision loss, night blindness, color loss, vi treous cells, and either flat or greatly reduced electroretinograms. N o corollary to the 23-kd CAR antigen/antibody could be identified in u nrelated retinopathies or cultured SCCL. Conclusions: We conclude that patients with SCCL-related CAR consistently produce antibodies agains t the 23-kd retinal CAR antigen. This immunologic reaction was not fou nd in patients with unrelated retinopathies and may possibly represent a cancer marker for SCCL.