Diagnosis of glaucoma

A method of assessing the risk of an individual for developing glaucoma with a high intraocular pressure at onset of disease, comprising assessing the ApoE alleles in the individual, wherein if the individual is a carrier of a TIGR gene promoter mutation, the presence of an ApoE4 allele is indicative of a decreased risk of developing glaucoma with a high intraocular pressure at onset of disease, and the absence any ApoE4 alleles is indicative of an increased risk of developing glaucoma with a high intraocular pressure at onset of disease.

A method of assessing the risk of an individual for developing early-onset glaucoma, comprising assessing the alleles of the ApoE gene promoter in the individual, wherein if the individual is a carrier of a TIGR gene mutation and has an ApoE4 allele, the presence of a T allele in an ApoE gene promoter is indicative of an increased risk of developing early-onset glaucoma, and the absence of any T alleles in an ApoE gene promoter is indicative of a decreased risk of developing early-onset glaucoma.

A method of assessing the risk of an individual for developing glaucoma with a high intraocular pressure at onset of disease, comprising assessing the alleles of the ApoE gene promoter in the individual, wherein the presence of a T allele in an ApoE gene promoter is indicative of an increased risk of developing glaucoma with a high intraocular pressure at onset of disease, and the absence of any T alleles in an ApoE gene promoter is indicative of a decreased risk of developing glaucoma with a high intraocular pressure at onset of disease.

A method of assessing the risk of an individual for developing glaucoma with a high visual field score, a high cup/disk ratio, or both a high visual field score and a high cup/disk ratio, comprising assessing the ApoE gene promoter alleles in the individual, wherein the presence of an ApoE(−219G) gene promoter allele is indicative of an increased risk of developing glaucoma with a high visual field score, high cup/disk ratio, or both a high visual field score and a high cup/disk ratio, and the absence an ApoE(−219G) gene promoter allele is indicative of a decreased risk of developing glaucoma with a high visual field score or high cup/disk ratio.

A kit for determining whether an individual is at increased risk or decreased risk of developing early-onset glaucoma, comprising:

• a) at least one reagent that can be used to detect the presence or absence of an ApoE4 allele in the individual, and
• b) instructions for determining whether the individual is at increased risk or decreased risk of developing early-onset glaucoma, by determining the presence or absence of an ApoE4 allele, wherein if the individual is a TIGR gene mutation carrier, the presence of an ApoE4 allele is indicative of an increased risk of developing early-onset glaucoma, and the absence of any ApoE4 alleles is indicative of a decreased risk of developing early-onset glaucoma.

A kit for determining whether an individual is at increased risk or decreased risk of developing glaucoma with a high intraocular pressure at onset of disease, comprising:

• a) at least one reagent that can be used to detect the presence or absence of an ApoE(−491T) gene promoter allele in the individual, and
• b) instructions for determining whether the individual is at increased risk or decreased risk of developing glaucoma with a high intraocular pressure at onset of disease, by determining the presence or absence of an ApoE(−491T) gene promoter allele, wherein the presence of an ApoE(−491T) gene promoter allele is indicative of an increased risk of developing glaucoma with a high intraocular pressure at onset of disease, and the absence of any ApoE(−491T) gene promoter alleles is indicative of a decreased risk of developing glaucoma with a high intraocular pressure at onset of disease.

A kit for determining whether an individual is at increased risk or decreased risk of developing glaucoma with a high visual field score, a high cup/disk ratio, or both, comprising:

• a) at least one reagent that can be used to detect the presence or absence of an ApoE(−219G) gene promoter allele in the individual, and
• b) instructions for determining whether the individual is at increased risk or decreased risk of developing glaucoma with a high visual field score, a high cup/disk ratio, by determining the presence or absence of an ApoE(−219G) gene promoter allele, wherein the presence of an ApoE(−219G) gene promoter allele is indicative of an increased risk of developing glaucoma with a high visual field score and/or a high cup/disk ratio, and the absence of any ApoE(−219G) gene promoter alleles is indicative of a decreased risk of developing glaucoma with a high visual field score or a high cup/disk ratio.