Association of relative leukocyte telomere length and genetic variants in telomere-related genes () with atrophic age-related macular degeneration.

: In an experimental model, telomere shortening inhibits neovascularization. It is thus possible that telomere shortening might have a role in the pathogenesis of geographic atrophy in case of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This is why we aimed to find any associated differences of telomere length and genetic variants in telomere-related genes (, and ) in patients with atrophic AMD compared to healthy controls.: The study enrolled patients with atrophic AMD (n = 56) and healthy (n = 73) controls. Samples of DNA from peripheral blood leukocytes were extracted by DNA salting-out method. The genotyping of rs2736098, rs401681 in locus, rs1545827, rs10107605, rs10509637, rs10509639, and rs251796 and relative leukocyte telomere length (T/S) measurement were carried out using a real-time polymerase chain reaction method. The results were assessed using the statistical analysis method of "IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0".: We found statistically significantly higher T/S in atrophic AMD patients than in healthy controls (T/S, median (IQR): 1.638 (1.110) vs. 0.764 (0.801), < .001). Also, statistically significant differences were found in rs10107605 allele (A and C) distributions between the atrophic AMD and control groups (88.36% and 11.64% vs. 95.54% and 4.46%, respectively, = .041), as well as between the short telomere and long telomere groups (86.92% and 13.08% vs. 96.09% and 3.91%, respectively, = .008).: Our research revealed the leukocyte telomere length having a role in atrophic AMD development, also the association between rs10107605 and the telomere length.