The role of the Met98Lys optineurin variant in inherited optic nerve diseases

<p><strong>Aims:</strong> To investigate the role of the common <i>OPTN</i> Met98Lys variant as a risk allele in open-angle glaucoma (OAG), autosomal dominant optic atrophy (ADOA) and Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON).</p> <p><strong>Methods:</strong> The presence of the Met98Lys variant was determined in a total of 498 (128 with normal-tension glaucoma (NTG)) patients with OAG, 29 patients who had myocilin-related OAG, 101 patients from ADOA pedigrees, 157 patients from LHON pedigrees and 218 examined OAG age-matched normal controls.</p> <p><strong>Results:</strong> 17 of 218 (7.8%) controls had the Met98Lys variant. 28 (5.6%) patients with OAG were Met98Lys positive. More Met98Lys carriers were found in the NTG group than in the high-tension glaucoma (HTG) group (p = 0.033). However, no significant difference was observed between the NTG and control cohorts (p = 0.609). Two <i>MYOC</i> mutation carriers were found to have the variant. The variant was found in 1 of 10 pedigrees with ADOA and in 8 of 35 pedigrees with LHON.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Data from this study do not support a strong role for the OPTN Met98Lys variant in glaucoma, ADOA or LHON. However, a weak association was observed of the variant with NTG compared with that with HTG. Meta-analysis of all published data on the variant and glaucoma confirmed that the association, although weak, is highly statistically significant in the cohort with glaucoma versus controls.</p>