Autoimmune retinopathy (AIR) is a rare disease in which the patients immune system attacks proteins in the retina, leading to loss of eyesight. The disease is poorly understood, but may be the result of cancer or cancer chemotherapy. The disease is an autoimmune condition characterized by vision loss, blind spots, and visual field abnormalities. It can be divided into cancer-associated retinopathy (CAR) and melanoma-associated retinopathy (MAR). The condition is associated with retinal degeneration caused by autoimmune antibodies recognizing retinal proteins as antigens and targeting them. AIRs prevalence is extremely rare, with CAR being more common than MAR. It is more commonly diagnosed in females (approximately 60% of diagnosed patients are females) in the age range of 50–60. Types
Cancer-associated retinopathy
A division of AIR, cancer-associated retinopathy is a paraneoplastic syndrome, which is a disorder caused by an immune system response to an abnormality. Autoimmune antibodies target proteins in retinal photoreceptor cells. The proteins targeted as antigenic are recoverin, α‐enolase and transducin. This autoimmune response leads to photoreceptor cell death. It causes progressive vision loss that can lead to blindness. CAR is typically associated with the anti-recoverin antibody. Melanoma-associated retinopathy
Retinal bipolar cells (cells in retina that transmit signals) react with the antibodies, leading to cell death. Although it is less prevalent than CAR, diagnosed cases of MAR continue to increase while CAR numbers decrease. Signs and symptoms
Both CAR and MAR share the same symptoms. This is because they are both paraneoplastic syndromes. AIR symptoms are numerous and shared by many other diseases.
At week 12, participants who received placebo were reassigned to upadacitinib daily.The benefit of upadacitinib was measured by comparing the proportion of participants treated with upadacitinib who achieved an American College of Rheumatology 20 (ACR20) response at week 12 or week 14 to the proportion of participants treated with MTX or placebo who achieved an ACR20 response. ACR20 is a 20% improvement in signs and symptoms of RA.Upadacitinib was approved for medical use in the European Union in December 2019. Research
Upadacitinib has also demonstrated success in treating moderate to severe atopic dermatitis and has been found to have superior efficacy compared with placebo and dupilumab. References
External links
"Upadacitinib". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine.