Increased support for linkage of a novel locus on chromosome 5q13 for essential hypertension in the British Genetics of Hypertension Study.

Human hypertension arises from a combination of genetic factors and lifestyle influences. With cardiovascular disease set to become the number 1 cause of death worldwide, it is important to understand the etiologic mechanisms for hypertension, because these might provide new routes to improved treatment. The British Genetics of Hypertension Study has recently published a primary genome screen that identified 4 chromosomal regions of interest.

Two-dimensional genome-scan identifies novel epistatic loci for essential hypertension.

It is well established that gene interactions influence common human diseases, but to date linkage studies have been constrained to searching for single genes across the genome. We applied a novel approach to uncover significant gene-gene interactions in a systematic two-dimensional (2D) genome-scan of essential hypertension. The study cohort comprised 2076 affected sib-pairs and 66 affected half-sib-pairs of the British Genetics of HyperTension study.

Haplotypes of the WNK1 gene associate with blood pressure variation in a severely hypertensive population from the British Genetics of Hypertension study.

Mutations in the WNK1 gene cause Gordon's syndrome, a rare Mendelian form of hypertension. We assessed whether common WNK1 variants might also contribute to essential hypertension (EH), a multifactorial disorder affecting > 25% of the adult population worldwide. A panel of 19 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) spanning the gene was selected from public databases and was genotyped in 100 white European families to determine the pattern of linkage disequilibrium, haplotype structure and tagging SNPs for the WNK1 locus.

Genome-wide mapping of human loci for essential hypertension.

Background: Blood pressure may contribute to 50% of the global cardiovascular disease epidemic. By understanding the genes predisposing to common disorders such as human essential hypertension we may gain insights into novel pathophysiological mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets. In the Medical Research Council BRItish Genetics of HyperTension (BRIGHT) study, we aim to identify these genetic factors by scanning the human genome for susceptibility genes for essential hypertension.