Genome-wide association identifies novel ROP risk loci in a multi-ethnic cohort

We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in a multiethnic cohort of 920 at-risk infants for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a major cause of childhood blindness, identifying 2 loci at genome-wide significance level (p<5×10–8) and 7 at suggestive significance (p<5×10–6) for ROP ≥ stage 3. The most significant locus, rs2058019, reached genome-wide significance within the full multiethnic cohort (p=4.96×10–9); Hispanic and Caucasian infants driving the association. The lead single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) falls in an intronic region within the Glioma-associated oncogene family zinc finger 3 (GLI3) gene. Relevance for GLI3 and other top-associated genes to human ocular disease was substantiated through in-silico extension analyses, genetic risk score analysis and expression profiling in human donor eye tissues. Thus, we report the largest ROP GWAS to date, identifying a novel locus at GLI3 with relevance to retinal biology supporting genetic susceptibilities for ROP risk with possible variability by race and ethnicity.