The Association of Elastin Gene Variants with Two Angiographic Subtypes of Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy

OBJECTIVE: To compare the association of elastin (ELN) gene variants between two different angiographic phenotypes of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV). METHODS: We included 411 treatment-naïve PCV patients and 350 controls in the present study. PCV was classified into two phenotypes (152 Type 1 and 259 Type 2) according to the presence or absence of feeding vessels found in indocyanine-green angiography. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the ELN region including rs868005, rs884843, rs2301995, rs13239907 and rs2856728 were genotyped using TaqMan Genotyping Assays. RESULTS: In the allelic association analyses, rs868005 showed the strongest association with Type 2 PCV (allelic odds ratio 1.56; p = 7.4x10(-6)), while no SNP was significantly associated with Type 1 PCV. Genotype association analyses revealed the significant association of rs868005 with Type 2 PCV in log additive model and predominant model (odds ratio 1.75; p = 1.5x10(-6) and odds ratio 1.60; p = 0.0044, respectively), but not with Type 1 PCV. These findings were further corroborated by another control group in the literature. CONCLUSIONS: There may be significantly different associations in genetic variants of elastin between two angiographic phenotypes of PCV.