At Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, researchers have found through an extensive study, common genetic changes associated with blood pressure and hypertension. The article suggests that the new breakthroughs made in this field may lead to advances in hypertension therapy that involves genetics rather than just environmental influences. The genes found in the study were not the ones commonly identified as being part of the system that regulates blood pressure, and are not the ones targeted by prescription medication to control hypertension, opening up a new world of potential drugs to treat sufferers of hypertension.
Elevated blood pressure affects more than 30% of adults and has many dire repercussions, even resulting in death, and although there are environmental factors that affect high blood pressure, genetics play a role. The study involved testing over 30,000 people of European decent, all of whom had a blood pressure between set limits. 11 genetic differences which correlated with high blood pressure were found by researchers, these genes appear to regulate blood pressure levels. However, each of the genetic differences found only cause small changes in blood pressure, supporting the idea that changes in many genes significantly effects blood pressure, whereas changes in just one gene doesn’t have a huge impact.
Because so many things contribute to hypertension it is hard to study, however, these findings are an exciting breakthrough due to the potential for new hypertension therapies and systems of early detection.
reference:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090505175654.htm
