Diagnostics and therapeutics for macular degeneration-related disorders
The invention relates to methods for diagnosing and treating macular degeneration-related disorders. The invention also related to methods for identifying genes that cause macular degeneration-related disorders.
1. A method for diagnosing, or identifying a predisposition to the development of a macular degeneration related disorder in a subject, comprising detecting in a biological sample from the subject the presence or abnormal levels of an autoantibody against, or an immune complex containing, fibulin-3, beta-crystallin A2, beta-crystallin A3, beta-crystallin A4, beta-crystallin S, calreticulin, 14-3-3 protein epsilon, or serotransferrin or an antigenic fragment thereof.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said macular degeneration related disorder is age-related macular degeneration or Malattia Leventinese.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein the macular degeneration related disorder is age-related macular degeneration.
4. The method of claim 2 wherein the macular degeneration related disorder is Malattia Leventinese.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting comprises contacting the biological sample with fibulin-3 or an antigenic fragment thereof, and detecting a specific interaction between the autoantibody and the fibulin-3 or antigenic fragment thereof.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting comprises contacting the biological sample with serotransferrin or an antigenic fragment thereof, and detecting a specific interaction between the autoantibody and the serotransferrin or antigenic fragment thereof.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the detecting comprises contacting the biological sample with serotransferrin, and detecting a specific interaction between the autoantibody and serotransferrin.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting a level of the autoantibody or immune complex in a control subject and comparing levels of the autoantibody or immune complex in the subject and the control subject.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said biological sample is a urine, eye fluid, blood plasma, serum, whole blood, or lymph fluid from the subject.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of precipitating a complex formed between the autoantibody and the fibulin-3, beta-crystallin A2, beta-crystallin A3, beta-crystallin A4, beta-crystallin S, calreticulin, 14-3-3 protein epsilon, or serotransferrin or antigenic fragment thereof before the detecting step.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising examining a subject with an ophthalmologic procedure after detecting the presence or abnormal levels of an autoantibody against fibulin-3, beta-crystallin A2, beta-crystallin A3, beta-crystallin A4, beta-crystallin S, calreticulin, 14-3-3 protein epsilon, or serotransferrin in a biological sample from the subject.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said biological sample is a blood plasma, serum, or whole blood from the subject.