Abstract

PURPOSE Keratoconus (KTCN) is a congenital corneal eye disorder which correlates with abnormal distribution of the collagen fiber and causes loss of visual acuity. COLA4A gene has a substantive role in collagen synthesis, whereas KIF26B as a new candidate gene belonging to kinesin superfamily (KIFs) has been suggested to be associated with this disease. So, in this preliminary study, we simultaneously evaluated the effects of two single nucleotide polymorphisms, 222855rs7C/T and rs12407427C/T, on KTCN susceptibility in a sample of Iranian population. METHODS The present case-control study consists of 144 patients confirmed with KTCN and 153 healthy controls. The variants are genotyped by using amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction method. RESULTS The findings disclosed that rs2228557C/T and rs12407427C/T polymorphisms significantly increased the risk of KTCN in measured (codominant1; p = 0.0001, codominant2; p = 0.0001, codominant3; p = 0.0006, dominant; p = 0.0001, over-dominant; p = 0.0005) and (codominant1; p = 0.0001, codominant3; p = 0.0005, recessive; p = 0.0001) inheritance patterns, respectively. CONCLUSION Our results did prove a statistical association of both rs2228557 and rs12407427 genotypes (TT and CT + CC) and allele (T) with KTCN susceptibility in Iranian population. Further studies in other ethnicities are required to verify our results.