Choroidal atrophy in a patient with paraneoplastic retinopathy and anti-TRPM1 antibody

The purpose of this paper is to report choroidal atrophy in a patient with cancer-associated retinopathy who had autoantibodies against the transient receptor potential cation channel, subfamily M, member 1 (TRPM1). A 69-year-old man visited our clinic in July 2010 with complaints of blurred vision and night blindness in both eyes. The full-field electroretinograms were negative type, indicating ON bipolar cell dysfunction. General physical examination revealed small cell carcinoma of the lung, and Western blot of the patient’s serum showed autoantibodies against TRPM1. We diagnosed this patient with cancer-associated retinopathy and retinal ON bipolar dysfunction due to anti-TRPM1 autoantibody. We followed him for more than 2 years from the initial visit and his symptoms have not changed. However, consistent with the choroidal hypopigmentation of the fundus, spectral domain optical coherence tomography showed a decrease in choroidal thickness of about one third over a 2-year follow-up period. We suggest that this case of gradually progressive choroidal atrophy was caused by the autoantibody against TRPM1 directly, because TRPM1 is expressed not only on ON bipolar cells but also on melanocytes. These findings indicate that we should be aware of choroidal thickness in patients with paraneoplastic retinopathy who have retinal ON bipolar dysfunction with the anti-TRPM1 antibody.