Genetic variation of vascular endothelial growth factor pathway does not correlate with the severity of retinopathy of prematurity

Objective:the aim of this study was to assess the genetic effects of the vascular endothelial growth factor (vegf) pathway on retinopathy of prematurity (rop).study design:a prospective study from a tertiary center that enrolled 204 japanese infants (<35 weeks of gestational age (ga)) having no anomalies. rop developed in 127, but not in 77 infants. the relative severity was defined as non-severe, moderate and severe rop for ga, based on the staging criteria. vegf (g.−634g>c, g.+13553c>t) and vegf-receptor (kdr g.+4422(ac)11 to 14, flt-1 c.+6724(tg)13 to 23) gene polymorphisms and clinical variables were assessed by uni/multivariate analyses.result:the frequency of polymorphisms did not differ between rop and non-rop patients. the tt genotype of g.+13553 showed a higher odds ratio for non-severe rop than cc genotype (p=0.006). multivariate analyses indicated that low birth weight, blood transfusion and respiratory distress syndrome, but not polymorphisms, were the risk factors of advanced rop (⩾stage 3).conclusion:a genotype of the vegf pathway weakly affects the severity of rop compared with other clinical factors.