Lack of association of human G-protein beta 3 subunit variant with hypertension in Japanese workers.

Objective: To examine the association between hypertension and the C825T polymorphism in the G-protein beta 3 subunit gene in Japanese workers.

Methods: This study used logistic regression analysis and multiple regression analyses to investigate whether the C825T polymorphism was associated independently with hypertension or blood pressure when factors such as age, body mass index, blood chemistry and lifestyle were taken into consideration. The target subjects were 1452 male and 1169 female workers selected from 3834 male and 2591 female workers in a single company. Hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure > or = 140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure > or = 90 mmHg, or taking antihypertensive medication. The power of the study was estimated as 83% for males and 41% for females based on allelic frequencies in Caucasians.

Results: Genotype distributions for C825T in hypertensive males (CC = 58, CT = 135, TT = 63) and females (CC = 20, CT = 36, TT = 20) were not significantly different from normotensive males (CC = 300, CT = 614, TT = 282) or females (CC = 274, CT = 602, TT = 217), respectively. Allele distributions were not significantly different in either sex. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that genotype was not associated significantly with hypertension, whereas there was a significant relationship between hypertension and age, family history of hypertension, body mass index, hematocrit, platelet count, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (gamma-GTP) and uric acid. Data analysis using one-way analysis of variance and multiple regression showed that the C825T allele had no significant influence on either systolic, diastolic or mean blood pressure.

Conclusions: This study indicates that the C825T polymorphism is not a significant factor for hypertension or blood pressures in Japanese people. Targeting of this polymorphism is therefore unlikely to be beneficial when attempting to prevent hypertension in the general Japanese population.