Identification of Autoantibodies against TRPM1 in Patients with Paraneoplastic Retinopathy Associated with ON Bipolar Cell Dysfunction

Abstract

Background: Paraneoplastic retinopathy (PR), including cancer-associated retinopathy (CAR) and melanoma-associated retinopathy (MAR), is a progressive retinal disease caused by antibodies generated against neoplasms not associated with the eye. While several autoantibodies against retinal antigens have been identified, there has been no known autoantibody reacting specifically against bipolar cell antigens in the sera of patients with PR. We previously reported that the transient receptor potential cation channel, subfamily M, member 1 (TRPM1) is specifically expressed in retinal ON bipolar cells and functions as a component of ON bipolar cell transduction channels. In addition, this and other groups have reported that human TRPM1 mutations are associated with the complete form of congenital stationary night blindness. The purpose of the current study is to investigate whether there are autoantibodies against TRPM1 in the sera of PR patients exhibiting ON bipolar cell dysfunction. Methodology/Principal Findings: We performed Western blot analysis to identify an autoantibody against TRPM1 in the serum of a patient with lung CAR. The electroretinograms of this patient showed a severely reduced ON response wit

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