Serum autoantibodies to heat shock proteins in glaucoma patients from Japan and the United States.
OBJECTIVE
To study serum titers of antibodies against heat shock proteins in glaucoma patients from two different ethnic populations and to examine the relationship between serum antibody titers and glaucomatous damage.


METHODS
Comparative, cross-sectional study.


METHODS
Twenty-seven age-matched patients with primary open-angle glaucoma, 28 patients with normal pressure glaucoma, and a control group of 26 healthy subjects from Japan; and 21 age-matched patients with primary open-angle glaucoma, 40 patients with normal pressure glaucoma, and a control group of 20 healthy subjects from the United States.


METHODS
Measurement of serum antibody titers and examination of optic disc and visual field parameters.


METHODS
Serum immunoreactivity against heat shock proteins, including hsp27, alphaB-crystallin, and human and bacterial hsp60, was studied by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The relationship of serum antibody titers to glaucoma parameters, including mean deviation, neural rim area-to-disc area ratio, and peripapillary atrophy area-to-disc area ratio was examined.


RESULTS
The serum ELISA titers of antibodies, including hsp27, alphaB-crystallin, human hsp60, and bacterial hsp60 antibodies, were higher in glaucoma patients compared with control subjects in both the Japanese and American groups (P: < 0.05). There was no association between the serum antibody titers and optic disc parameters in either group from Japan or the United States (P: > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that increased titers of circulating antibodies against heat shock proteins occur in both Japanese and American patients with glaucoma. The lack of a relationship between the level of serum antibody titers and the degree of glaucomatous damage in either ethnic group suggests that increased antibodies to heat shock proteins do not occur as an epiphenomenon of the glaucomatous neurodegeneration process.
Wax
M B
MB
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Tezel
G
G
Kawase
K
K
Kitazawa
Y
Y
D000368:Aged; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D018834:Chaperonin 60 / Q000276:immunology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003459:Crystallins / Q000276:immunology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005902:Glaucoma, Open-Angle / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000276:immunology*; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009898:Optic Disk / Q000473:pathology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014794:Visual Fields
D001323:Autoantibodies; D018834:Chaperonin 60; D003459:Crystallins; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins