A sensitivity analysis of genetic variants known to be associated with late stage AMD showed that rs1061170 (p.Y402H) in the complement factor H (CFH) gene influences the association of Cer d18:1/16:0 with GA. To understand the possible influence of this genetic variant on ceramide levels, we established a cell-based assay to test the modulation of genes in the ceramide metabolism by factor H-like protein 1 (FHL-1), an alternative splicing variant of CFH that also harbors the 402 residue.
Odds ratios, especially for the main risk polymorphisms in ARMS2 (rs10490924) and CFH (rs1061170), gained with increasing disease severity and bilateralism (exemplarily: rs1061170: unilateral early AMD: OR = 1.18; bilateral early AMD: OR = 1.20; unilateral intermediate AMD: OR = 1.28; bilateral intermediate AMD: OR = 1.39, unilateral geographic atrophy (GA): OR = 1.50; bilateral GA: OR = 1.71).
A statistically significant difference in allele frequencies between dt-GA and ndt-GA were found for CFH:rs1061170 and CFH:rs800292 (Pcorrected = 0.03).
Although genetic markers were associated significantly with 3-year CNV (CFH: Y402H; ARMS2: A69S) and GA incidence (CFH: Y402H), the inclusion of genetic factors in the models provided only marginal improvements in predictive performance.
We genotyped three SNPs, rs1061170 (exon 9, CFH), rs11200638 (HTRA1 promoter, -512 bp), and rs10490924 (6.6 kb upstream of HTRA1 in LOC387715/ARMS2) in 333 cases with advanced AMD (choroidal neovascularization [CNV] and geographic atrophy) and 171 age-matched examined controls.