[Immunopathologic study of retinal detachment with vitreo-retinal proliferation]. / Etude immunopathologique au cours du décollement de la rétine avec prolifération vitréo-rétinienne.

Immunopathological studies were performed on biopsies or autopsies of pars plana samples from patients with retinal detachment, with or without vitreo-retinal proliferation. Immunoglobulins and complement deposits have been found in vitreo retinal proliferation, together with a deviant expression of HLA-DR and DQ antigens by pigmented epithelial cells of the ciliary body. Gamma interferon is able to induce this expression in vitro, and the inducing effect of this lymphokine and other mediators has been tested on pigment epithelium cultures. Cultured pigment epithelial cells expressed HLA-DR and DQ antigens after being stimulated by very low doses of gamma interferon. The precise target of this immune reaction is still impossible to determine, but its consequences could be the release of growth factors as FGF, which has been found at very high levels in pigmented and non pigmented cells of pars plana and ciliary processes. Our work asserts the existence of auto-immune phenomena in retinal detachment with vitreo-retinal proliferation as well as in proliferative diabetic retinopathy, their exact involvement remaining to determine.