Association of inflammatory susceptibility genes with myopia in Chinese children.

PURPOSE: To investigate the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in inflammation-related genes and high myopia in Chinese children, as well as to explore potential risk and protective genetic markers for early identification.

METHODS

A total of 458 students aged 10-13 years from Taibo School, Jiangxi Province, China, were enrolled in this study. Participants with high myopia (spherical equivalent [SE] ≤  - 6.0 D) or emmetropia (- 0.5 D < SE <  + 1.0 D) were genotyped for 47 targeted SNPs using the MassARRAY platform. Logistic regression models, adjusting for age and sex, were used to evaluate SNP associations with high myopia. Linkage disequilibrium and haplotype analyses were performed.

RESULTS

Compared with emmetropia, SNPs rs2857656, rs3760396 (CCL2), rs2317130 (TGFβ1), rs2071230 (MMP1), rs315952 (IL1RN), and rs1143627 (IL1β) were significantly associated with high myopia. Haplotype analysis identified risk (C-C-T) and protective (G-T, G-T-C) haplotypes in CCL2 and TGFβ1.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that inflammatory gene polymorphisms may contribute to the development of high myopia in children.