From the American Academy of Ophthalmology

This is the first study to show that a variation in the gene that encodes the vascular endothelial growth factor 2 receptor (VEGFR2) partially accounts for the wide range of responses to ranibizumab. Researchers evaluated one-year treatment response in 366 patients with wet AMD who received three monthly loading doses of 0.5 mg ranibizumab, followed by prn dosing. They then genotyped 126 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across all VEGF and VEGFR genes and discovered two SNPs in VEGFR2 that were independently associated with an improved treatment response to ranibizumab. This treatment response amounted to a mean increase in VA of 0.26 on the logMAR scale in patients with 3 contributing minor alleles, versus a loss of 0.03 logMAR in patients with no minor allele. Ophthalmology, April 2014