This abstract is assigned to sessions
| Presentation preference | Oral presentation |
| Title | HLA-A29 does not present immunogenic epitopes of the Retinal S-Antigen in patients with Birdshot Uveitis |
| Purpose | Retinal arrestin (Retinal S-antigen) is widely considered as the candidate autoantigen for Birdshot Uveitis, a severe inflammatory eye condition that only affects HLA-A29-positive individuals. |
| Methods | We studied the HLA-A29 immunopeptidome from patient-derived cells engineered to stably express the retinal S-antigen by mass spectrometry. |
| Results | Among peptides presented by HLA-A29, we identified two peptides derived from the retinal S-antigen that were also in vitro substrates of the antigen presentation aminopeptidases ERAP1 and ERAP2 that are genetically implicated in the pathogenesis of Birdshot Uveitis. Multiplexed HLA-A29-peptide dextramer analysis revealed no enrichment for antigen-specific T cells reactive to the identified retinal S-antigen peptides in blood of patients or HLA-A29-positive controls. |
| Conclusion | These results indicate that the retinal S-antigen is unlikely a primary autoantigen for birdshot uveitis. |
| Conflict of interest | No |
Authors 1
| Last name | HIDDINGH |
| Initials of first name(s) | S |
| Department | CTI/Ophthalmology |
| City | Utrecht |
| Country | Netherlands |
Authors 2
| Last name | Venema |
| Initials of first name(s) | WJ |
| Department | CTI/Ophthalmology |
| City | Utrecht |
| Country | Netherlands |
Authors 3
| Last name | Claas |
| Initials of first name(s) | FHJ |
| Department | Immunology |
| City | Leiden |
| Country | Netherlands |
Authors 4
| Last name | Mulder |
| Initials of first name(s) | A |
| Department | Immunology |
| City | Leiden |
| Country | Netherlands |
Authors 5
| Last name | Janssen |
| Initials of first name(s) | GMC |
| Department | Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics |
| City | Leiden |
| Country | Netherlands |
Authors 6
| Last name | de Boer |
| Initials of first name(s) | JH |
| Department | Ophthalmology |
| City | Utrecht |
| Country | Netherlands |
Authors 7
| Last name | van Veelen |
| Initials of first name(s) | PA |
| Department | Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics |
| City | Leiden |
| Country | Netherlands |
Authors 8
| Last name | Kuiper |
| Initials of first name(s) | JJW |
| Department | Ophthalmology/CTI |
| City | Utrecht |
| Country | Netherlands |
