Evaluation of Genetic Association of the INK4 Locus with Primary Open Angle Glaucoma in East Indian Population

INK4 locus at chromosome 9p21 has been reported to be associated with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) and its subtypes along with the associated optic disc parameters across the populations of European, Japanese and African ancestries. The locus encodes three tumor suppressor genes namely CDKN2A, ARF, CDKN2B and a long non-coding RNA CDKN2B-AS1 (also known as ANRIL). Here, we report association study of 34 SNPs from INK4 locus with POAG in a population of Indo-European ancestry from the eastern part of India (350 patients and 354 controls). With 81% power to detect genetic association we observed only nominal association of rs1011970 (uncorrected p = 0.048) with POAG and rs10120688 (uncorrected p = 0.048) in patients without a high intra-ocular pressure (IOP<21 mm of Hg) compared to controls. This study, in contrast to the previous reports, suggests lack of significant genetic association of INK4 locus with POAG in East Indian population which needs to be replicated in larger studies in diverse world populations.