Chlamydia pneumoniae and age-related macular degeneration: A role in pathogenesis or merely a chance association?

Abstract

The role of inflammation in the aetiology of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has become very topical as the discovery that genetic variation in complement pathway genes influences the risk of developing AMD. Complement factor H gene, an inhibitor of the alternative complement activation pathway along with other complement pathway genes factor F (BF) and C2 show significant contribution to the risk of AMD. The alternative complement pathway is activated by a trigger, which is often microbial in nature. One current model of AMD aetiology implicates aberrant regulation of the alternative pathway of complement, in combination with some unknown infectious agents. Chlamydia pneumoniae could..