Circulating corneal epithelium antibodies and immune complexes in immunologic eye disorders.

We investigated the incidence of circulating corneal epithelial antibodies and the serum levels of immune complexes in patients with immunologic disorders associated with the eye. Fifty patients with autoimmune diseases, 29 of whom had Behcet disease, were included in our study. Twenty healthy subjects were used as controls. Twenty-four patients (48%) had detectable levels of circulating antibodies against the corneal epithelium compared with two (10%) of the control subjects. Patient age had a negative effect on the induction of antibodies, whereas there were neither positive nor negative associations of antibody positivity rates with factors such as gender, the duration of the illness, the activity of the disease, the occurrence rate of the attacks, immune suppressant therapy, and the levels of circulating immune complexes. This study clearly demonstrated the high incidence of corneal antibodies in certain diseases of immunologic origin, including Behcet disease. Further investigations should be done to reveal clues about the presumed effects of local and systemic factors on the production of anticorneal antibodies.