Abstract
Purpose :
To determine the association of age-related maculopathy susceptibility 2 (ARMS2) gene polymorphisms with the 12 months outcomes of combination therapy with intravitreal aflibercept (IVA) and verteporfin photodynamic therapy (vPDT) for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV).
Methods :
This was a retrospective study of 37 eyes from 37 patients with PCV who underwent the combination therapy with IVA and vPDT and were followed up for more than 12 months. The mean age of the patients was 74.6±9.5 years and the proportion of female was 32%. The single nucleotide polymorphism at rs10490924 in the ARMS2 gene was genotyped using the TaqMan assay. The clinical characteristics and the outcomes of combination therapy including the mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central retinal thickness (CRT) and central choroidal thickness (CCT) measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT), and the number of treatments were compared among the GG, GT, and TT genotypes at rs10490924.
Results :
There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics among the three genotypes at rs10490924. BCVA was significantly improved from baseline in all genotypes at rs10490924 and no significant differences were detected among them. CRT and CCT were also significantly reduced over time after the combination therapy in all genotypes, although no significant differences were found among three genotypes. The patients with the GG genotype required significantly smaller number of treatments compared with GT and TT genotypes in a predominant model for T allele (P=0.02).
Conclusions :
ARMS2 variants were not associated with the visual outcome of combination therapy in the PCV patients. However, these variants are likely associated with the number of treatment, hence may provide useful information for precision medicine in patients with PCV.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.