Abstract

P 265

Role of the fibrinogen gamma (FGG) 10034C>T gene polymorphism in retinal vein occlusion

Christoph Werner1, Martin Weger1, Anton Haas1, Wilfried Renner2, Andreas Wedrich1, Otto Schmut1, Iris Steinbrugger1
1Universitäts-Augenklinik, Medizinische Universität Graz, Graz, Österreich, 2Klinisches Institut für Medizinische und Chemische Laboratoriumdiagnostik, Medizinische Universität Graz, Graz, Österreich

Objective
Retinal vein occlusion (RVO) is a common vision-threatening disease primarily occurring in patients older than 60 years. Several risk factors including arterial hypertension and diabetes mellitus have been identified. In addition, elevated plasma fibrinogen levels resulting in increased platelet aggregability and plasma viscosity have been found among RVO patients.
A fibrinogen gamma (FGG) H2 haplotype-tagging single nucleotide polymorphism (htSNP), which is characterized by a C to T substitution at nucleotide 10034 of the fibrinogen gamma gene (FGG 10034C>T, rs2066865), has been reported as a novel risk factor for deep venous thrombosis (DVT).
However, the potential role of the FGG 10034C>T polymorphism in RVO has not yet been determined. The purpose of the present study was thus to investigate a hypothesized association between this polymorphism and the presence of RVO.
Methods
The present case-control study comprised 678 patients with RVO (379 females, 299 males) and 357 control subjects (207 females, 150 males). Genotypes of the FGG 10034C>T polymorphism were determined by TaqMan fluorogenic 5´ exonuclease assay.
Results
Prevalences of the homozygous FGG 10034TT genotype did not significantly differ between RVO patients and control subjects (FGG 10034TT: 5.9% vs. 4.8%, p=0.45). Presence of the FGG 10034TT genotype was associated with a non-significant odds ratio of 1.25 for RVO (95% CI: 0.71-2.23). Similarly, frequencies of the FGG 10034T-allele were not significantly increased in patients with RVO compared to control subjects (p=0.64). Separate analysis of patients with BRVO and CRVO revealed similar genotype distributions, with the FGG 10034TT genotype being present in 5.5% of patients with BRVO and 6.3% of CRVO patients
Arterial hypertension (71.7% vs. 51.8%, p<0.001) and diabetes mellitus (11.4% vs. 6.7%, p=0.017) were significantly more prevalent in RVO patients than among control subjects.
Conclusions
Our study strongly suggests that the FGG 10034C>T polymorphism itself is unlikely a major risk factor for RVO.

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