Autoimmunity and the retina. II. Raised serum IgM levels in retinitis pigmentosa.

Retinitis pigmentosa is a slow degenerative disease of the retina, almost invariably bilateral, beginning in childhood and often resulting in blindness in middle or advanced age. The clinical features of this disease and its mode of inheritance are well known, but the paucity of information concerning associated biochemical changes is such that we have virtually no knowledge of its aetiology (Campbell and Tonks, I962). The degeneration of the neuro- epithelium of the retina which is the hallmark of the diseaEe is regarded as being a form of abiotrophy in man (Treacher Collins, I9I9). Since the disease occurs in two forms-one hereditary and the other not-and there are many atypical forms on record, it is possible that this disease is in fact a syndrome and that the damage to visual cells is a symptom complex brought about by a variety of causes, all leading to similar types of organic changes, because the retina, being a specialized tissue, can react pathologically in only a limited way.