| Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible blindness for the elderly in developed countries. Its exudative subtype accounts for more than 80% of severe visual loss or legal blindness in AMD patients regardless of modified lifestyle and therapeutic treatments. Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) is a macular disorder characterized by typical polypoidal lesions on fundus angiography and sharing similar phenotype with exudative AMD. PCV was suggested as a distinct disease from exudative AMD based on different clinical features in ophthalmic imaging. Furthermore, PCV patients tend to be younger and more prevalent in Asian, and have different responses to photo-dynamic therapy and anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatments, compared to exudative AMD patients. However, it has also been suggested that PCV could be a subtype of exudative AMD mainly because of their common genetic and environmental factors. Therefore, genetic differentiation between exudtive AMD and PCV might assist clinicians to determine the condition.;The complement factor H (CFH) gene, and age-related maculopathy susceptibility 2 (ARMS2)/high temperature requirement factor A1 (HTRA1) locus have been mapped for AMD by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and subsequent molecular investigations. The formyl peptide receptor 1 (FPR1) gene, which mediates trafficking and activation of phagocytic leukocytes, is related to the AMD-associated inflammatory condition. This thesis aims to evaluate FPR1 as a novel disease gene for exudative AMD and PCV, to compare the genetic profiles of ARMS2, HTRA1, CFH, and FPR1 in exudative AMD and PCV, to investigate the correlation of ARMS2/HTRA1 genotypes with disease phenotypes, and to differentiate these two disorders through the genomic compositions.;Case-control association studies were conducted on ARMS2, HTRA1, CFH and FPR1 in exudative AMD and PCV patients of our Hong Kong Chinese cohort using polymerase chain reaction and direct sequencing. We observed different genotypic distributions (p < 0.05), association patterns and effect sizes between these two diseases.;This thesis attempts to dissect the genetic profiles of exudative AMD and PCV. Results in this thesis suggest FPR1 as a novel candidate gene for exudative AMD and PCV, reveal a significant and consistent association of ARMS2, HTRA1, CFH and FPR1 with both exudative AMD and PCV, provide evidences for genetic differentiation of these two disorders, demonstrate a significant correlation between ARMS2/HTRA1 genotypes and response to treatment, and indicate different influence of smoking in exudative AMD and PCV. However, definite differentiation between exudative AMD and PCV was limited because of the same trend of associations between these two disorders. Therefore, replication studies in other ethnic populations are necessary, and identification of PCV-specific genes/polymorphisms could further differentiate PCV from exudative AMD. (Abstract shortened by UMI.). |
