Singapore Scientists Discover Genes Responsible For Cornea Blindness

SINGAPORE, Jan 15 (Bernama) -- Scientists at Singapore Eye Research Institute and A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore have succeeded in identifying genes for central corneal thickness that may cause potentially blinding eye conditions. These eye conditions include glaucoma, as well as the progressive thinning of the cornea, which may eventually lead to a need for corneal transplantation. The authors jointly led a multi-centre study involving 55 hospitals and research centres around the world. They performed a meta-analysis on more than 20,000 individuals in European and Asian populations. Their findings were published in the science journal, Nature Genetics on Jan 6. Central corneal thickness (CCT) is associated with potentially blinding eye conditions such as keratoconus, a condition where the cornea progressively thins and takes on a more conical shape that may eventually require transplantation. CCT has an estimated heritability up to 95 per cent and may determine the severity of one’s glaucoma and assist eye doctors in identifying patients with high risk for progression. In fact, it is one of the leading causes of corneal transplantation worldwide. Prof Aung Tin, Deputy Director, Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) and a senior consultant ophthalmologist and Head of Glaucoma Service at Singapore National Eye Centre and a co-author of the paper, described the discovery as a tremendous achievement, involving many centres from several countries worldwide. "Singapore played a major role in this work, especially SERI's population based studies of 10,000 Chinese, Malay and Indian people,” he said. Assoc Prof Eranga Vithana, Associate Director, Basic and Experimental Sciences, SERI and a co-author of the paper, said that the paper identified six novel genetic variants that confer increased risk of keratoconus, a condition for which genes were not very forthcoming prior to this study. -- BERNAMA