Association of polymorphisms in APOE, p53, and p21 with primary open-angle glaucoma in Turkish patients.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the association between Apolipoprotein E (APOE), tumor suppressor protein p53 (p53), and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A (p21) genes and primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) in a cohort of Turkish subjects.


METHODS
Seventy-five POAG patients (49 women, 26 men) and 119 healthy subjects (67 women, 52 men) were genotyped with polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Allele and genotype frequencies between healthy subjects and glaucoma patients were compared by the chi(2) test, and intraocular pressure (IOP), cup/disc ratio (C/D) and visual field indices (MD and PSD) were compared among different APOE, p53, and p21 genotypes in POAG group. A p value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.


RESULTS
The mean ages were 63.8+/-9.5 and 61.8+/-10.2 years in POAG and control groups, respectively (p=0.18). There were no significant differences in the distribution of APOE, p53, and p21 genotypes between the healthy subjects and POAG patients (p=0.38, p=0.12, and p=0.2, respectively). There were no significant differences in maximum IOP, MD, and PSD values among different groups of p53 and p21 genotypes (p>0.05). POAG subjects with the epsilon2epsilon3 genotype had a worse PSD value (median=2.2) than those with the epsilon3epsilon4 genotype (median=1.77; p=0.01) and POAG subjects with the epsilon3epsilon3 genotype had worse MD and PSD values (median= -7.4 and 3.4, respectively) than those with the epsilon3epsilon4 genotype (median= -4.1 and 1.77, respectively; p=0.034 and 0.028, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
Our study found no link between polymorphisms in APOE, p53, and p21 genes and POAG in Turkish patients, although a larger sample is required to elucidate the role of these polymorphisms in the pathogenesis and course of glaucoma.
Saglar
E
E
Hacettepe University, Faculty of Science, Department of Molecular Biology, Ankara, Turkey.
Yucel
D
D
Bozkurt
B
B
Ozgul
R K
RK
Irkec
M
M
Ogus
A
A
D000368:Aged; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015331:Cohort Studies; D050759:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21 / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D016158:Genes, p53; D005902:Glaucoma, Open-Angle / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014421:Turkey
D001057:Apolipoproteins E; C493956:CDKN1A protein, human; D050759:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21