ARMS2/HTRA1 Polymorphisms Are Not Associated With Choroidal Neovascularization in Highly Myopic Eyes of Elderly Japanese Population

Abstract

Purpose: : Even though in highly myopic group, elderly patients with choroidal neovascularization (CNV) may have contribution of the etiology of wet type age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The purpose of this study is to investigate the possible association of the genetic risk factors of AMD on chromosome 10q26 with CNV developed in highly myopic eyes of elderly Japanese population.

Methods: : Highly myopic elderly Japanese patients with and without CNV were genotyped for two AMD-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on chromosome 10q26, i.e., rs10490924 (A69S) of ARMS2 and rs11200638 of HTRA1, with the TaqMan SNP assay. One hundred and eighty-three unrelated highly myopic (axial length > 26.00 mm or refraction < -6.0 diopters) Japanese patients with CNV who were ≥ 50 years old (mean age ± standard deviation of 62.7 ± 6.3 years) and 170 highly myopic patients without CNV who were ≥ 50 years old (62.3 ± 7.1 years) were studied. The differences in the genotypic distributions for the two SNPs between the two groups were tested with the Trend Χ² test, and logistic regression analyses were performed for age and gender adjustment.

Results: : No significant difference was detected in the distribution of the two SNPs; rs10490924 (P > 0.1) and rs11200638 (P > 0.1), between the two groups even after adjustments for age and gender differences.

Conclusions: : The genetic risk factors of AMD related to these SNPs do not contribute significantly to the development of CNV in highly myopic elderly Japanese population.

Keywords: genetics • choroid: neovascularization • myopia