Abstract
The intention of our retrospective study was to determine whether vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) genetic polymorphisms are associated with risk for proliferative retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a condition that is characterized by abnormal retinal neovascularization and can lead to retinal detachment and result in blindness. We enrolled 86 very low birth weight infants (birth weight ≤1500 g) who had been treated with cryo/laser therapy because of the risk for proliferative ROP (treated group). Their VEGF T−460C and G+405C genotypes were determined from dried blood samples and were compared with VEGF genotypes of 115 VLBW infants who were not treated with cryo/laser therapy (untreated group). We found that the allele frequency of VEGF +405C was higher in the treated group than in the untreated group (0.30 versus 0.41; p < 0.05). The likelihood of being treated for ROP was higher in heterozygous and homozygous carriers of VEGF +405C alleles [odds ratios adjusted for risk factors of ROP (95% CI): 2.00 (1.02–3.92; p = 0.04) and 3.37 (1.17–9.65; p = 0.007), respectively]. VEGF −460TT/+405CC haplotype was more prevalent in the treated patients than in the untreated patients (13 of 86 versus 1 of 115; p < 0.001), and the association remained significant (p < 0.01) even after the adjustment for risk factors of ROP (gestational age, supplemental oxygen therapy, and gender). These findings suggest that the VEGF genotype may be associated with risk for proliferative ROP in VLBW infants.
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Abbreviations
- ROP:
-
retinopathy of prematurity
- SNP:
-
single-nucleotide polymorphism
- VEGF:
-
vascular endothelial growth factor
- VLBW:
-
very low birth weight
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Acknowledgements
A.V. and B.V. had primary responsibility for protocol development, patient screening, enrollment, preliminary data analysis, and writing of the manuscript. R.V. and J.H. screened and enrolled patients and participated in the clinical interpretation of the results. G.D. and I.B. participated in the development of the protocol and analytic framework for the study and contributed to the writing of the manuscript. A.T. and M.S. were responsible for the analytical data and for analysis and interpretation. T.T. supervised the design and execution of the study and contributed to the writing.
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This study was supported with funds from OTKA Grant T046086, ETT 16/2000, and K+F 0134/2001.
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Vannay, Á., Dunai, G., Bányász, I. et al. Association of Genetic Polymorphisms of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Risk for Proliferative Retinopathy of Prematurity. Pediatr Res 57, 396–398 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1203/01.PDR.0000153867.80238.E0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/01.PDR.0000153867.80238.E0
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