Disclosed are screening methods for determining a human subject's propensityto develop a vascular disorder and/or age-related macular degeneration (AMD),therapeutic or prophylactic compounds for treating disease or inhibiting itsdevelopment, and methods of treating patients to alleviate symptoms of the disease,prevent or delay its onset, or inhibit its progression. The inventions are basedon the discovery that persons with a genome having a deletion of the CFHR-1 and/orCFHR-3 gene, which normally lie on human chromosome 1 between DNA encoding CFHand CFHR-4, are at reduced risk of developing AMD, and elevated risk of developingvascular disease such as aneurysm.
