Abstract
Background
Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a potentially blinding eye disorder that affects premature infants. Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) has been established as being necessary for vascular growth in the neonatal retina. Low IGF-I levels during the early postnatal days have been found to be predictive for ROP. The effects of IGF-I are mediated through IGF-I receptors (IGF-IR), which, in turn, suppress IGF-I production. The G+3174A polymorphism of the IGF-IR gene has been shown to be associated with low IGF-I levels. We tested the association of this IGF-IR polymorphism with ROP.
Methods
We enrolled in the ROP group those infants (n=108) who had been treated with laser or cryo therapy due to ROP stage 2+ or 3 (n=91) or had a ROP stage 4 or 5 (n=17) (ROP group). The median gestational age of these infants was 28 weeks (range 24–35 weeks) and birth weight was 970 g (range 630 to 2,000 g). The distribution of IGFR-1 G+3174A genotype in the ROP group was compared to that in 120 gestational age-matched infants with ROP stage 1 or 2 not requiring intervention [gestational age 30 (range 24–37) weeks, birth weight 1,235 (640–1,960) g] (LBW group) and 164 term newborns [gestational age 39 (range 35–42) weeks, birth weight 3,450 (2,500–4,350) g] (term group). Genotyping was done using PCR–RFLP methods.
Result
The prevalence of IGF-IR G+3174A polymorphism was the same in the ROP group, the LBW group and the term group, showing no association between this single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and ROP.
Conclusion
Our results do not support the hypothesis that the carrier state of IGF-IR G+3174A polymorphism has an impact on the risk of ROP in infants. A possible cause for the lack of association is that the rapid nutritional and metabolic changes during postnatal life have a greater effect on IGF-I levels than this SNP does.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank András Treszl, PhD for the statistical analysis and Rita Vámos, MD of the Clinic of Ophthalmology, Mária Street, Budapest for the examination of patients and for the classification of stage of retinopathy. This study was supported by grants OTKA T046086 and NKFP 1A/002/2004.
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Balogh, Á., Derzbach, L., Vannay, Á. et al. Lack of association between insulin-like growth factor I receptor G+3174A polymorphism and retinopathy of prematurity. Graefe's Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmo 244, 1035–1038 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-005-0203-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-005-0203-4