Detecting genetic predisposition to sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy

This application is the national phase of PCT Patent Application GB97/02790 filed on Oct. 9, 1997; which claims priority to UK Provisional Application No. GB 9621129.7, filed on Oct. 10, 1996. A method and kit for predicting increased risk of sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy which includes isolating genomic DNA from a sample from a diabetic patient. The genetic polymorphism pattern for the genes IL-1A, IL-1B and IL-1RN is then identified in the DNA. The identified pattern is compared with control patterns of known polymorphisms, and patients expressing a genetic polymorphism pattern associated with increased risk of sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy are identified.