Unraveling a complex genetic disease: Age-related macular degeneration

Abstract

In most of the Western world, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) remains the largest single cause of severe visual impairment, and its prevalence continues to increase. It is considered to be a complex disease, in which multiple genes and environment play a role in pathogenesis. Several environmental insults are implicated with smoking, serum cholesterol, hypertension, sunlight exposure, and many other factors being variously associated with disease pathogenesis. Until recently, there have been relatively few breakthroughs to further our understanding of the genetics of AMD, despite remarkable progress in molecular genetic techniques over the last 20 years, and the fact that many rare in..