Supportive Data

At Mayo Clinic,(1) recoverin-IgG antibody was detected in no controls and 2/33 suspected autoimmune/paraneoplastic retinopathy patients (6%); both were men with painless vision loss, detected 2 to 4 months before cancer detection. Patient 1, an 85 year-old smoker, progressed to light perception only bilaterally within 1 month. Small cell lung carcinoma was detected. Patient 2, a 66 year old non-smoker, had insidious progression of vision loss, ataxia, and myelopathy (and also harbored P/Q- and N-type calcium channel antibodies). Metastatic neuroendocrine carcinoma was detected. Both patients had bilateral optic nerve and retinal atrophy (non-inflammatory appearing) and flat electroretinograms. Neither patient had vision improvements despite cancer treatment and immunotherapy; both died from cancer within 2 years of diagnosis. During clinical evaluation, 25/33 retinopathy patients (including patients 1 and 2) were tested for recoverin antibody in an outside laboratory, and were reported negative in all but patient 1.