Correlation between anti-retinal antibodies and lupus retinopathy in systemic lupus erythematosus

Lupus retinopathy (LR) is one of the most frequent and serious ocular complications of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), because it may cause irreversible visual impairment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between serum anti-retinal antibodies levels of SLE patients and the incidence of LR. Levels of serum anti-α-enolase antibody (Ab), anti-arrestin Ab, anti-recoverin Ab and anti-IRBP3 Ab were detected in 89 SLE patients (divided into LR group and non-LR group) and 81 healthy controls by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The correlation between these four anti-retinal Ab, SLE activity and the incidence of LR was evaluated. LR group had a higher SLE disease activity index (average SLEDAI score, 18 (7) versus 9 (5), P < 0.001), higher frequency of pleurisy (40% versus 20.4%, P = 0.044) and lower level of hemoglobin (102.343 ± 23.157 versus 112.759 ± 19.678, P = 0.025) comparing to non-LR group. LR group had higher levels of anti-α-enolase than non-LR group (P = 0.033) and control group (P < 0.0001). The levels of anti-recoverin in LR group was higher than non-LR group (P = 0.036) and control group (P < 0.0001), while the difference was not significant between non-LR group and control group (P = 0.109). Using combination of anti-α-enolase Ab and anti-recoverin Ab to diagnose LR in SLE patients is more effective (with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC): 72.68%) than use anti-α-enolase Ab (AUC: 65.65%) or anti-recoverin (AUC: 61.96%) only. Our results suggested that anti-α-enolase and anti-recoverin may be used as potential biomarkers of lupus retinopathy in SLE patients.