title: VEGF gene polymorphism and response to intravitreal bevacizumab and triple therapy in age-related macular degeneration.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the association between the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene and response to either intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) or photodynamic therapy with intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide and IVB (triple therapy) for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
  
  
  METHODS
  The study consisted of 94 patients with neovascular AMD who underwent IVB and 79 patients with neovascular AMD who underwent triple therapy. Genotypes were determined for four selected tagging single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)s of the VEGF gene.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the four SNPs studied, one SNP (rs699946) was associated significantly with visual acuity (VA) changes 12 months after treatment-irrespective of whether they received IVB alone (P = 0.044) or triple therapy 0.010). Baseline VA was not significantly different among the three genotypes of rs699946 in either treatment group. There were no significant differences in the number of treatments, incidence of recurrence, or the period until the recurrence according to VEGF rs699946 genetic variant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The VEGF gene SNP rs699946 was associated with response to IVB alone and to triple therapy in this study. The G allele in SNP rs699946 can thus be applied as a marker for better visual prognosis in patients with neovascular AMD who receive either IVB or triple therapy.
authors: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 54 Kawahara, Shogoin, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan.|Center for Genomic Medicine, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
authors: Isao
authors: I
authors: Nakata
authors: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 54 Kawahara, Shogoin, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan. yamashro@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp.
authors: Kenji
authors: K
authors: Yamashiro
authors: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 54 Kawahara, Shogoin, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan.|Center for Genomic Medicine, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
authors: Hideo
authors: H
authors: Nakanishi
authors: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 54 Kawahara, Shogoin, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan.
authors: Akitaka
authors: A
authors: Tsujikawa
authors: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 54 Kawahara, Shogoin, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan.
authors: Atsushi
authors: A
authors: Otani
authors: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 54 Kawahara, Shogoin, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan.
authors: Nagahisa
authors: N
authors: Yoshimura
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000068258:Bevacizumab; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D058449:Intravitreal Injections; D008297:Male; D010778:Photochemotherapy; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D014222:Triamcinolone Acetonide / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000235:genetics*; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D057135:Wet Macular Degeneration / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D005938:Glucocorticoids; C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D000068258:Bevacizumab; D014222:Triamcinolone Acetonide