Association of Cyclin Dependent Kinase Inhibitor 1A Genotypes With Pterygium Susceptibility, Age, and Sex

Background/Aim: Pterygium is a chronic fibrovascular ocular surface disorder with multifactorial etiology involving environmental and genetic factors. Given the tumor-like characteristics of pterygium, the cell cycle regulator cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor 1A (CDKN1A) has been proposed as a potential contributor. This study aimed to investigate the association between CDKN1A rs1801270 and rs1059234 polymorphisms and pterygium susceptibility. Materials and Methods: The distributions of genotypic patterns of CDKN1A rs1801270 and rs1059234 among 160 pterygium cases and 320 controls were determined using chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism methods. The potential interactions between CDKN1A genotype and age or sex were tested by stratified analysis. Results: No significant differences in genotype distributions were observed between cases and controls for rs1801270 (p=0.5493) or rs1059234 (p=0.5842). Stratified analyses indicated reducing effects of CDKN1A rs1801270 AA genotype by older age (≥60 years) [odds ratio (OR)=0.38, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.18-0.82, p=0.0204] or female sex (OR=0.37, 95%CI=0.16-0.86, p=0.0307) on pterygium risk. No association was found for rs1059234 in similar stratified analyses (all p>0.05). Conclusion: Although CDKN1A polymorphisms were not associated with pterygium susceptibility, rs1801270 may serve as a protective marker in female and elder subgroups. These findings suggest a context-dependent role of CDKN1A in pterygium pathogenesis, which needs further validation.