Association of Polymorphisms at the SIX1/SIX6 Locus With Normal Tension Glaucoma in a Korean Population

<jats:sec> <jats:title>Précis:</jats:title> <jats:p>We demonstrated that SIX1/SIX6 locus polymorphism (rs10483727 and rs33912345) was significantly associated with a genetic susceptibility to NTG in a Korean population. More studies are needed to investigate whether the SIX1/SIX6 locus is associated with NTG among various ethnic populations.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Purpose:</jats:title> <jats:p>Several previous studies have reported that the relevance of the SIX1/SIX6 locus to open angle glaucoma (OAG) in various ethnic populations. However, definitions of OAG patients were different among those studies. The relevance of the SIX1/SIX6 locus to normal tension glaucoma (NTG) in a Korean population remains uncertain. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of the SIX1/SIX6 locus with NTG in a Korean cohort.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Method:</jats:title> <jats:p>Patients with NTG and ethnically matched healthy controls were recruited from eye clinics in Korea (210 cases and 117 controls). Four polymorphisms (rs33912345, rs12436579, rs2179970, and rs10483727) of the SIX1/SIX6 locus were genotyped for 327 subjects using a TaqMan single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping assay.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Results:</jats:title> <jats:p>The rs33912345 polymorphism was significantly correlated with NTG in the recessive model [odds ratio (OR): 0.265; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.078–0.898, <jats:italic toggle="yes">P</jats:italic>=0.033], but not in the allelic and dominant models (both <jats:italic toggle="yes">P</jats:italic>>0.05). The SNP rs10483727 was significantly associated with NTG in the allelic model (OR: 0.674; 95% CI: 0.464–0.979, <jats:italic toggle="yes">P</jats:italic>=0.038) and the recessive model (OR: 0.187; 95% CI: 0.058–0.602, <jats:italic toggle="yes">P</jats:italic>=0.005). Genetic association analysis of SNP rs12436579 and rs2179970 revealed no significant difference in genotype distribution between NTG cases and controls in the allelic, dominant, or recessive models (all <jats:italic toggle="yes">P</jats:italic>>0.05).</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Conclusion:</jats:title> <jats:p>The current study found that SIX1-SIX6 locus rs10483727 and rs33912345 polymorphisms were significantly associated with NTG risk in the Korean population.</jats:p> </jats:sec>