Advances in molecular genetic study on primary angle-closure glaucoma

Primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) is a group of complex ophthalmic disorders with genetic heterogeneity.PACG appears to be more frequently occurred in Asian population and females worldwide.Recently, some studies tried to find the possible pathogenesis of PACG from biomolecular level, some association analysis and genome-wide association study (GWAS) technique have been used to illustrate the mechanism of PACG.But so far its pathogenesis still is not yet elucidated, there are much more puzzles in molecular genetic study on PACG.Up to now, only a few uncertain genes and three new susceptibility loci were reported to be associated with PACG and only 40 literature were published.However, some genes referred to POAG display a close association with PACG.As eyes with PACG tend to share certain anatomic biometric characteristics, the associations between PACG and several genes, such as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), which involve in the modulation of eye growth.Besides, GWAS shows us another way to find out the PACG-associated genes.So they may become novel breakthroughs for PACG genetic study.

Glaucoma, angle-closure/genetics; Genetic predisposition to disease/genetics; Genome-wide association study/methods; Polymorphism, single nucleotide; Risk factors