PURPOSE

To investigate the frequency of variants in 3 major age-related macular degeneration (AMD)-associated loci in patients of European-American descent with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV).

DESIGN

Cross-sectional, case-control association study.

PARTICIPANTS

Fifty-five patients with PCV, 368 patients with advanced AMD, and 368 age-matched and ethnically matched unaffected controls of European-American descent.

METHODS

Association analysis of allele and genotype frequencies, determined by TaqMan assays, was performed for the following haplotype-tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (htSNPs): risk alleles in the complement factor H (CFH) gene (Y402H and IVS14) in the ARMS2/HTRA1 locus on 10q26 (A69S) and protective alleles in CFH (IVS1 and IVS6) and in the complement factor B/complement component C2 (CFB/C2) locus (IVS10 and H9L).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Allele and genotype frequencies of the htSNPs in the CFH, CFB/C2, and ARMS2/HTRA1 loci.

RESULTS

Four AMD-associated haplotype-tagging alleles (rs547154, rs1061170, rs1410996, rs10490924) in the 3 major loci, CFH, CFB/C2, and ARMS2/HTRA1, also were statistically significantly associated with the PCV phenotype (P<0.05). Three other alleles from the same loci (rs4151667, rs529825, rs3766404) showed a trend toward association (P<0.2) but did not reach statistical significance, possibly because of the combined effects of a relatively small sample size and low minor allele frequency in the screened populations.

CONCLUSIONS

The PCV phenotype in Caucasian patients is associated with the major alleles/genotypes in the AMD-associated loci, suggesting that PCV and AMD are genetically similar in the tested loci.