June 2013
Volume 54, Issue 15
Free
ARVO Annual Meeting Abstract  |   June 2013
Clarifying the role of ATOH7 in glaucoma endophenotypes
Ananth Viswanathan; Cristina Venturini; Pirro Hysi; Abhishek Nag; Ekaterina Yonova; Jie Wang; Tien Wong; Paul Healey; Paul Mitchell; Christopher Hammond
Author Affiliations & Notes
  • Ananth Viswanathan
    Glaucoma Service, Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, United Kingdom
    NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, United Kingdom
  • Cristina Venturini
    Genetics, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, United Kingdom
    Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, United Kingdom
  • Pirro Hysi
    Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, United Kingdom
  • Abhishek Nag
    Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, United Kingdom
  • Ekaterina Yonova
    Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, United Kingdom
  • Jie Wang
    Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) Department of Ophthalmology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, NSW, Australia
    Department of Ophthalmology, University of Sydney Centre for Vision Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  • Tien Wong
    Epidemiology and Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
    Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore, Singapore
  • Paul Healey
    Department of Ophthalmology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  • Paul Mitchell
    Department of Ophthalmology, University of Sydney Centre for Vision Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia
    Department of Ophthalmology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  • Christopher Hammond
    Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, United Kingdom
  • Footnotes
    Commercial Relationships Ananth Viswanathan, None; Cristina Venturini, None; Pirro Hysi, None; Abhishek Nag, None; Ekaterina Yonova, None; Jie Wang, None; Tien Wong, Allergan (C), Bayer (C), Novartis (C), Pfizer (C), GSK (F), Roche (F); Paul Healey, None; Paul Mitchell, Novartis (R), Bayer (R); Christopher Hammond, None
  • Footnotes
    Support None
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science June 2013, Vol.54, 2651. doi:
  • Views
  • Share
  • Tools
    • Alerts
      User Alerts
      You are adding an alert for:
      Clarifying the role of ATOH7 in glaucoma endophenotypes
      You will receive an email whenever this article is corrected, updated, or cited in the literature. You can manage this and all other alerts in My Account
      The alert will be sent to:
      ×
      This feature is available to authenticated users only.
      Sign In or Create an Account ×
    • Get Citation
      Citation

      Ananth Viswanathan, Cristina Venturini, Pirro Hysi, Abhishek Nag, Ekaterina Yonova, Jie Wang, Tien Wong, Paul Healey, Paul Mitchell, Christopher Hammond; Clarifying the role of ATOH7 in glaucoma endophenotypes. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2013;54(15):2651.

      Download citation file:

      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

      ×
    • Get Permissions
  • Supplements
Abstract

Purpose: The ATOH7 gene has been previously associated with glaucoma and glaucoma-related traits such as cup/disc ratio and optic disc size. Cup/disc ratio is an important part of the glaucoma phenotype, whereas the relationship between the disease and optic disc size is weak and not well understood. The aim of this study was to investigate whether ATOH7 is associated primarily with cup/disc ratio or merely the size of the optic disc.

Methods: We carried out a genome wide association study (GWAS) on 1677 individuals over the age of 49 years from the Blue Mountains Eye Study with quantitative measurements for vertical disc diameter, vertical cup/disc ratio and intraocular pressure. The analyses were run for a candidate region around rs7916697 where ATOH7 gene lies. Three different linear regressions were performed with PLINK. The first was for vertical disc diameter adjusted on age, sex and intraocular pressure, the second for vertical cup/disc ratio adjusted on age, sex and intraocular pressure and the third for cup/disc ratio adjusted on age, sex, intraocular pressure and vertical disc diameter. We performed a replication analysis on a separate independent cohort of 1922 individuals (the TwinsUK cohort).

Results: After adjustments for confounders, a strong signal of genome-wide significance was found at rs7916697 (beta=-3.779, pvalue=1.678x10-8) for vertical disc diameter. In addition rs7916697 was significant for vertical cup/disc ratio (beta= -0.019, pvalue= 2.43x10-4), adjusted on age, sex and intraocular pressure. However, the association signal at this SNP was not found in the analysis for vertical cup/disc ratio adjusted on age, sex, intraocular pressure and vertical disc diameter (beta=-0.007, pvalue= 0.148). Results were similar in the replication TwinsUK cohort.

Conclusions: The association signals at rs7916697 on ATOH7 are strong for vertical disc diameter and vertical cup/disc ratio, if the latter is not adjusted on vertical disc diameter. However, the signal for cup/disc ratio is lost when the analysis for cup/disc ratio is adjusted on disc diameter. This study finds that ATOH7 is associated with optic disc size but not cup/disc ratio.

Keywords: 539 genetics • 627 optic disc • 459 clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: biostatistics/epidemiology methodology  
© 2013, The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Inc., all rights reserved. Permission to republish any abstract or part of an abstract in any form must be obtained in writing from the ARVO Office prior to publication.
Copyright © 2025 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.
×
×

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

Sign in or purchase a subscription to access this content. ×

You must be signed into an individual account to use this feature.

×
This site uses cookies. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our privacy policy.Accept