Association of autoantibody levels with different stages of age-related macular degeneration (AMD): Results from the population-based Gutenberg Health Study (GHS)

Purpose Anti-retinal autoantibodies are assumed to be associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). To our knowledge, this is the first evaluation of autoantibodies in human sera of participants with different stages of AMD in a large population-based, observational cohort study in Germany. Methods The Gutenberg Health Study (GHS) is a population-based, observational cohort study in Germany, including 15,010 participants aged between 35 and 74. Amongst others, non-mydriatic fundus photography (Visucam PRO NM™, Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, Jena, Germany) was performed. Fundus images of the first 5000 participants were graded based on the Rotterdam Eye Study classification. Sera of participants with AMD ( n =541) and sera of age-matched participants without AMD ( n =490) were analyzed by antigen-microarrays. Besides descriptive statistics, autoantibody-levels were compared by Mann-Whitney-U test and the associations of level of autoantibodies with AMD were calculated by logistic regression analysis. Likewise, possible associations of the autoantibodies and both clinical and laboratory parameters on AMD subjects were analyzed. Results Autoantibodies against transferrin ( p