Researchers have found a gene variant that can more than double the risk of developing the degenerative eye disease “age-related macular degeneration” (AMD), which is the most common cause of blindness in the US and Europe.
Gene variant increases risk of blindness
Researchers found that a variant in the complement C3 gene influenced the risk of developing AMD. For the 30% of the population who carry one copy of the so-called ‘fast’ variant the risk was increased by 70%, and for the 4% of people with two copies of the ‘fast’ variant the risk was more than doubled. The study provided strong evidence that inflammation is an important part of the disease process.
