Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 12, 2026
Characterization of Vascular Morphology of Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration by Indocyanine Green Angiography
Published on: August 11, 2023
VEGF-A polymorphisms predict short-term functional response to intravitreal ranibizumab in exudative age-related
Stefano Lazzeri1, Michele Figus, Paola Orlandi
1Ophthalmology Unit, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Aim:
To investigate the association between VEGF gene SNPs and early response to intravitreal ranibizumab for exudative age-related macular degeneration.
Materials & Methods:
Sixty-four patients (64 eyes) were prospectively enrolled and treated for neovascular age-related macular degeneration with ranibizumab monotherapy. Visual acuity was measured using the ETDRS chart. A loading phase of 3 monthly intravitreal injections of ranibizumab 0.5 mg/0.05 ml was performed. The analyzed VEGF-A gene SNPs were rs699947 (-2578A/C) and rs1570360 (-1154G/A); the allelic discrimination was performed in real-time PCR platform. The difference of best corrected visual acuity (ETDRS letters) read before and after treatment was considered as functional outcome.
Results:
Ranibizumab was significantly more effective as measured by best corrected visual acuity in patients harboring the VEGF-A -2578C allele (from +6.26 to +7.44 ETDRS letters), whereas patients carrying the VEGF-A -2578AA genotype revealed an absence of early functional response to ranibizumab (-1.78 ETDRS letters; p = 0.0192).
Conclusion:
This study suggests that the VEGF-A -2578A/C SNP may represent an important molecular determinant of the early functional outcome of ranibizumab. Original submitted 3 December 2012; Revision submitted 18 February 2013.
