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Introduction: Oxidative stress, associated with aging is likely to play a role in the etiology of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is an enzyme involved in the production of hypochloric acid (HOCI) and other reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this study, we investigated whether two polymorphisms located in the promotor region of the MPO gene, known to influence the expression of MPO, are associated with exudative age-related macular degeneration. Moreover the study examined the expression of MPO gene on mRNA level. Our intend is to find a correlation between the expression of studied genes and nucleotide sequence polymorphisms encoded in the gene of two different types of age-related macular degeneration.
Material and methods: Two SNPs in the promoter region of the MPO gene , -463 and -129, were selected for genotyping. Real time PCR method was used to analyze gene expression on mRNA level. The study was carried out in a group of 120 AMD patients with wet form and 300 healthy control subjects.
Results: There are no statistically significant differences in genotype distribution and gene frequency between patients with AMD and controls. Results showed a positive correlation between MPO expression on mRNA level and GG genotype ( -463 SNP) in MPO gene.
Conclusions: The MPO G-463/A and -129 polymorphism is not a risk factor for the development of AMD.

Keywords: Myeloperoxidase gene (MPO) polymorphisms, age-related macular degeneratio