SYDNEY, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Australian researchers said on Saturday they have identified 40 new genetic markers that increase a person's risk of developing glaucoma, pointing to improvements in testing and predicting the risks of getting the eye disease.
"The discovery of these previously unknown genetic markers for glaucoma will be important for improving our ability to test for and predict a person's risk of the disease," Associate Professor Stuart MacGregor, head of the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute's Statistical Genetics laboratory, said in a statement about its study.
"Although a predictive test for glaucoma is not available yet, our discovery is very promising.
"If we can identify who is most at risk of developing glaucoma at the earliest opportunity, we can make sure those individuals receive the preventative treatment they need to stop them from going blind as they age."
The genome-wide study covered more than 134,000 people linked to fluid pressure in the eye, a condition known as intraocular pressure. High intraocular pressure is commonly associated with an increased risk of developing glaucoma. The study found that individuals with a large number of the genetic markers had an almost sixfold increased risk of developing glaucoma compared to someone who had fewer genetic variants, said MacGregor.
A person's risk of developing glaucoma - which damages the optic nerve and leads to a gradual loss of the peripheral vision - increased with age, but the high eye pressure commonly associated with glaucoma can be treated with drugs and even surgery, he said.
The study, which was conducted in collaboration with multiple clinicians, hospitals and institutions across Australia and New Zealand, has been published in scientific journal Nature Genetics.
The findings dramatically increased the current understanding of which genes caused glaucoma and high eye pressure, said Professor Jamie Craig, director of the Flinders Centre for Opthalmology, Eye and Vision Research.
"We expect far-reaching consequences in terms of predicting who will develop glaucoma in the population, and exciting possibilities to develop better ways to treat this disease, which is a leading cause of blindness worldwide," he said.
Glaucoma affects about 300,000 Australians and there is currently no cure for the disease, but early detection through screening can halt or significantly slow its progression, according to the institute.
