deCODE Glaucoma™

A novel DNA-based test that assesses risk for exfoliation glaucoma. Individuals testing positive are at 2.4-times the population average risk of developing exfoliation glaucoma.

Screening and prevention

How deCODE Glaucoma™ can help.

deCODE Glaucoma™ identifies those who are at increased genetic risk of developing open angle glaucoma

The deCODE Glaucoma™ risk results are independent of and complementary to other known risk factors such as family history of glaucoma or elevated eye pressure.

Those who test positive may derive greatest benefit from regular eye exams, with the aim of detecting more disease earlier and treating it to slow progression and preserve vision.

The markers detected by the test together account for more than 99% of all EG cases.

deCODE Glaucoma™ measures two SNP markers associated with increased risk of exfoliation glaucoma. They are located in a gene called LOXL1, and about 10-30% of all primary open angle glaucoma patients have the at-risk versions of these SNPs in the LOXL1 gene.

Risk stratification enables targeted screening, better prevention.

About 28% of people of European descent carry two copies of both of the at-risk SNPs, putting them at about 2.4-times the population average risk, and at about 100-times the risk of individuals who carry no copy of either of the risk markers. By understanding the inherited risk of developing glaucoma it may be possible to take preventive action – through regular eye-exams or certain treatments – to minimize risk of the devastating consequences of glaucoma, vision loss or blindness.

deCODE Glaucoma™ flags a key biological process leading to exfoliation glaucoma.

Exfoliation glaucoma is the most common secondary form of glaucoma and is thought to occur through what is called exfoliation syndrome, characterized accumulation of abnormal microfibrillar deposits on the aqueous bathed surfaces of the anterior segment of the eye. The variants detected by the test change two amino acids in the product of the LOXL1 gene, a key enzyme that regulates cross linking of elastin fibers that are the major constituent of the intraocular lesions in exfoliation glaucoma.

This content was last reviewed on February 04, 2011.