Genetic factors of myopia

A new genetic study supports the hypothesis that high myopia has an important hereditary component in the Chinese population. The study evaluated the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 321 individuals with pathological myopia and 310 control individuals with normal vision. The analysis revealed significant differences in the distribution of variants of the SNP rs1479617 located in the CTNND2 gene and 11q21.1 regions between the high myopes and control individuals. Previous research has implicated the same region of the CTNND2 gene and 11q21.1 regions in high myopia in this Chinese population. The authors speculated that the variant in the CTNND2 gene may alter the behaviour of scleral fibroblasts, allowing the eye to lengthen abnormally, possibly in response to environmental factors.

(Yu et al, Ophthalmologica 2012; DOI: 10.1159/000338188.)