More On AMD and Genetic Risk

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(From EurekAlert!). Researchers continue to characterize genetic risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD): "Variations in the BF/C2 gene are protective for AMD, whereas the more common variations in the other two genes, CFH and LOC, increase risk of AMD. The authors provide new calculations that one's lifetime risk of AMD ranges from less than 1% to more than 50%, depending on the variations one has in these three genes. The research team also showed that the three genes do not interact, but confer risk independently." The next step is to determine the biochemistry underlying these correlations, a process that is, fortunately, proceeding ever faster in these years of advanced biotechnology. Every aspect of the aging body is a system; decipher it and many doors will open for medical development.

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-08/hms-vi3082906.php