Researchers in Hong Kong found new evidence associating myopia with variants of a single gene and suggested age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and myopia may have shared genetic components.

Researchers at The Chinese University of Hong Kong evaluated the associations of 25 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in high-temperature requirement protease A 1 in a Hong Kong Chinese cohort of 533 myopes plus 280 healthy controls. Among their findings, the SNPs rs11200647 and rs66884382 were particularly associated with moderate myopia, while the AMD-associated SNP rs11200638 also had a nominal association (p=0.0042, OR=1.37) with myopia.

The full study is published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.