Patent ID: 8114592

Claim:
A method for identifying an individual who has an increased risk for developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD) comprising; obtaining a biological sample from said individual, said individual being a human; and assaying DNA in said sample and detecting the presence of (i) at least one allele of the complement component 3 (C3) gene comprising a G nucleotide at the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2230199 at the position corresponding to position 366 of SEQ ID NO: 1; or (ii) a C3 protein comprising a glycine amino acid at the position corresponding to position 102 of SEQ ID NO: 2; wherein the presence of at least one allele of the C3 gene comprising a G nucleotide at the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2230199 at the position corresponding to position 366 of SEQ ID NO: 1 or a C3 protein comprising a glycine amino acid at the position corresponding to position 102 of SEQ ID NO: 2 is indicative of an increased risk of development of macular degeneration in the individual.