Methods for treatment of age-related macular degeneration

A method of treating a human patient in need of treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) comprising administering to the patient a composition comprising an inhibitor of the alternative pathway of complement activation, wherein said inhibitor is:

• (a) a naturally occurring human Complement Factor H polypeptide comprising residues 19-1231 of SEQ ID NO:5, or a naturally occurring splice variant thereof, or an allelic variant of said human CFH polypeptide or splice variant, with the proviso that residue 62, numbered relative to SEQ ID NO:5, is isoleucine, residue 402 of said human CFH polypeptide, numbered relative to SEQ ID NO:5, is tyrosine, and residue 1210, numbered relative to SEQ ID NO:5, is arginine, wherein the human CFH polypeptide binds complement component 3b (C3b);
• (b) a recombinant or purified Complement Factor H polypeptide, wherein the complement factor H polypeptide has at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:2 and binds to complement component 3b (C3b), with the proviso that at residue 62, numbered relative to SEQ ID NO:2, the complement factor H polypeptide comprises isoleucine, at residue 402, numbered relative to SEQ ID NO:2, the complement factor H polypeptide comprises tyrosine, and at residue 1210, numbered relative to SEQ ID NO:2, the complement factor H polypeptide comprises arginine;
• or
• (c) a naturally occurring human Complement Factor H polypeptide that binds to complement component 3b (C3b) and has at least 90% amino acid sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2, with the proviso that residue 62, numbered relative to SEQ ID NO:2, is isoleucine, residue 402, numbered relative to SEQ ID NO:2, is tyrosine, and residue 1210, numbered relative to SEQ ID NO:2, is arginine.