New Genes Discovered to Be Associated With Blood Pressure and Hypertension

New Genes have been found to be associated with blood pressure and hypertension thanks to two research projects conducted in San Francisco, California it has been reported at the American Society of Hypertension 2009 Scientific Meeting this week. The projects identified regions near 13 genes with some not previously known to be associated with the two conditions. The studies showed that the previously known to be a hereditary condition, blood pressure runs in families who have abnormal Mendelian forms of either high or low blood pressure. Scientists found that the families tested showed abonormalities in the genes that are involved in the way the kidney handles salt.

The project conducted by Drs Daniel Levy was performed on 29 136 white men and women from the Framingham Heart Study, Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, Cardiovascular Health Study, Rotterdam Study, Rotterdam Extension Study, and Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility Reykjavik Study to investigate these genes newly discovered to be associated with high & low blood pressure. They genotyped (investigated the genotype being the genetic constitution of a cell) around 500 000 common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and were able to use patterns of linkage disequilibrium to identify around 2.5 million additional SNP’s. They were also able to identify a number of suggested regions for systolic and diastolic pressure (high and low) and hypertension. Then joining the investigation led by Christopher Newton-Cheh at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, four new genetic variants for systolic blood pressure were found along with six variants for diastolic blood pressure and one variant for hypertension. Tests were then run that showed both the systolic and diastolic blood pressures increased at a constant rate (at pressures of 10mm Hg for systolic and 5mm Hg for diastolic) and the variation believed to be substantial enough to impact cardiovascular disease events.

The BPGen researchers conducted their study on 34 433 subjects of European ancestry and tested 2.5 million genotyped SNP’s to look at the association with blood pressure. They investigated the possible SNP’s influencing blood pressure and genotyped the 12 variants that had the strongest response in both European and Indian-Asian ancestry. They were successful and discovered eight regions that had an association with systolic and diastolic blood pressure and genetic variants. They noted the size effect of the individual genes were small and responsible for variations in blood pressure. Researcher Christopher Newton Cheh concluded in the meeting held this week that while the discoveries could be used to help prevent the risk associated with hypertensive outcomes, the new discoveries of the variants should not be overstated.

However, the new genes are believed to help expand current and future researchers understanding of the biology involved in blood-pressure regulation. It is also believed to be able to be used to identify those with a higher risk of developing hypertension or blood pressure problems so that treatment can be given quicker and hopefully show a higher success rate. Both of the scientists leading the investigations stated that results were shared between the two studies that involved collaborations with colleagues worldwide and included 159 investigators across the US and Europe.

Reference:
http://www.theheart.org/article/968549.do
http://todaysseniorsnetwork.com/10_tips_on_bp.htm
http://discoverysedge.mayo.edu/genetic_jeopardy/index.cfm