ABSTRACT
Glaucoma consists of a group of neurodegenerative disorders that have in common progressive retinal ganglion cell death and characteristic optic nerve degeneration. If untreated, glaucoma results in progressive loss of visual function and blindness. Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide, affecting 70 million people of which seven million are blind (45) and yet the etiology of this group of disorders is in many cases poorly understood. However, it has become increasingly clear that underlying genetic factors play a major role in the pathobiology of many forms of glaucoma.
