Patent ID: 8168390

Claim:
A method for diagnosing a susceptibility to age-related macular degeneration in a human subject, the method comprising the steps of: amplifying a nucleic acid sequence containing position 3143 of SEQ ID NO. 1 using a first primer that binds upstream of said position and a second primer that binds downstream of said position; detecting an insertion/deletion polymorphism starting at position 3143 of SEQ ID NO. 1; and determining the genotype of the subject at position 3143 of SEQ ID NO. 1, wherein a homozygote for the insertion/deletion polymorphism is predictive of susceptibility to age-related macular degeneration and a heterozygote for the insertion/deletion polymorphism is predictive of a carrier for susceptibility to age-related macular degeneration wherein the insertion/deletion polymorphism comprises deletion of a nucleic acid sequence from position 3143 of SEQ ID NO: 1 to position 3585 of SEQ ID NO: 1 and insertion of a sequence from position 104 of SEQ ID NO: 2 to position 157 of SEQ ID NO: 2 in place of the deleted sequence.