CFH Y402H polymorphism in Italian patients with age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, and Stargardt disease.

BACKGROUND: The complement system has been implicated in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and the CFH Y402H polymorphism has been suggested as a major risk factor for AMD. Recent evidences supported the role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of some retinal dystrophies. Aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of CFHY402H polymorphism in a group of Italian patients affected by atrophic AMD, Stargardt disease (STGD), or retinitis pigmentosa(RP). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our case-control association study included 116 patients with atrophic AMD, 77 with RP, 86 with STGD, and 100 healthy controls. All the patients were evaluated by a standard ophthalmologic examination and OCT. ERG was performed on STGD and RP patients. All the subjects underwent a blood drawing for genetic testing and the CFHY402H polymorphism was genotyped with the TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction single nucleotide polymorphism assay. RESULTS: The prevalence of the risk genotype C/C was higher in the AMD group than in controls (p < 0.001). The risk allele C was more frequent in the AMD group than in controls (p < 0.001). The prevalence of the risk genotype was higher in the RP patients than in controls (p < 0.001) and similarly the risk allele C was more frequent in the RP group (p = 0.008). The CFHY402H genotype distribution was not different between patients with STGD and the controls, for the biallelic (p = 0.531) and for the monoallelic (p = 0.318) evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: In our series of Italian patients, the CFHY402H genotype is associated with atrophic AMD and RP, but not with STGD. This result may support the hypothesis of a complement system dysregulation in the pathogenesis of AMD and RP.

Retinal dystrophy and subretinal drusenoid deposits in female choroideremia carriers.

PURPOSE: To describe clinical and molecular characteristics in a group of Italian female choroideremia (CHM) carriers and report fundus patterns. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 11 female carriers belonging to six CHM families examined at the Regional Reference Center for Hereditary Retinal Degenerations at the Eye Clinic in Florence. We took into consideration patients with a comprehensive ophthalmological examination, fundus photography, optical coherence tomography (OCT), full field electro-retinography (ERG), and visual field (VF). All patients were screened for mutations of the CHM gene. RESULTS: Fundus examination revealed retinal abnormalities in all female carriers (11/11) in the study; in particular four fundus patterns were identified: pattern A (RPE dystrophy involving only the peripheral retina), pattern B (RPE dystrophy involving the peripheral retina and the posterior pole with small hypo-pigmented RPE areas), pattern C (RPE dystrophy involving the peripheral retina and the posterior pole with small yellowish well-defined dots), and pattern D (RPE dystrophy involving the peripheral retina and the posterior pole with large hypo-pigmented RPE areas and well-defined yellowish dots). Pattern D was characterized by widespread macular subretinal drusenoid deposits (SDD). Half of the observed mutations were novel mutations. A genotype-phenotype correlation was not identified. CONCLUSIONS: Retinal dystrophy and SDD were detected in our female CHM carriers, and fundus patterns have been described in this study. The recognition of specific fundoscopic patterns may permit a correct diagnosis, an appropriate molecular investigation and genetic counseling.