Tubby-like protein 1 as an autoantigen in cancer-associated retinopathy

Cancer-associated retinopathy (CAR) is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome that is characterized by retinal degeneration. Two cDNA clones, recoverin and tubby-like protein 1 (TULP1), were isolated from a human retinal cDNA library by using serum from a CAR patient as the probe. Both recoverin and TULP1 are retina-specific protein, and TULP1 is a member of tubby gene family. A determination of the recognized amino acid sequence of TULP1 by the patient serum and immunohistochemical studies on the distribution of TULP1 in the retina were done in this study.