RORA regulates numerous pathways associated with AMD, such as the angiogenesis pathway including FLT1 and VEGFA, the lipid metabolism pathway including ABCA1 and ABCA4, as well as the inflammatory response and complement pathways that include CD59, C3 and C5 (Fig. 1) [refs. 2, 46, 47, 76, 77]. The gene discussed is ABCA1; the disease is age-related macular degeneration.