High blood pressure is a major risk factor in a myriad of diseases such as kidney failure, stroke, heart attacks and heart failure. It is also known to run in families. 150 scientists from 93 European and US research institutes conducted a study into the genetics behind high blood pressure (hypertension) using data compiled from 130,000 patients and 3 specific analyses. They discovered that relatively common variants in 8 regions of DNA are linked to human blood pressure.
The problem with having multiple factors involved in blood pressure is that each factor has a small effect, and often many factors are involved at once. This is why such a large number of institutes were involved in the research, and also why such a large sample size was necessary. It is this kind of teamwork which is tantamount to success in modern day science.
Of the 8 regions implicated in blood pressure, 6 had not been previously identified. One of the already known regions encodes for a protein which relaxes blood vessels and controls how the kidney gets rid of excess sodium, and the other region has been linked to a rare genetic disorder which results in hypertension.
These new discoveries are very exciting because of the potential for new therapies to treat/prevent high blood pressure. Further research does need to be conducted, however, to isolate which genes are responsible for which aspect of high blood pressure, in order to create drugs which specifically target this area.
References:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/149785.php
Images:
http://www.topnews.in/health/files/blood-pressure3.jpg
