Antiendothelial cell antibodies (AECA) in patients with uveoretinitis

AECAs have been found in 26% of patients with uveoretinitis in studies arising from three different laboratories, and their presence can-not simply be explained by coexisting extraocular disease. There is little correlation with ocular disease activity or other markers of systemic inflammation and vascular damage that can be found in this group of patients, but this lack of correlation has also been found in studies of more widespread inflammatory diseases. The changes found in the peripheral blood of patients with uveoretinitis are the result of a mixture of acute and chronic inflammation, reactions to coexisting tissue damage, as well as predisposing abnormalities of inflammation and hemostasis. Even patients with similar clinical appearances are unlikely to be pathologically homogeneous, and the reasons for the presence of AECA are likely to be various. Some patients may demonstrate a heightened antibody response to endothelium damaged by unknown mechanisms, whereas others may develop cytotoxic AECA as an integral part of the inflammatory process.