Equine recurrent uveitis - A spontaneous horse model of uveitis

Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is an autoimmune disease that occurs
with a high prevalence (10%) in horses. ERU represents the only
reliable spontaneous model for human autoimmune uveitis. We already
identified and characterized novel autoantigens (malate
dehydrogenase, recoverin, CRALBP) by analyzing the
autoantibody-binding pattern of horses affected by spontaneous
recurrent uveitis (ERU) to the retinal proteome. CRALBP also seems
to be relevant to human autoimmune uveitis. Proteomic screening of
vitreous and retinal samples from ERU diseased cases in comparison
to healthy controls has led to the identification of a series of
differentially regulated proteins, which are functionally linked to
the immune system and the maintenance of the blood-retinal barrier.
Copyright (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.