Genetic variants and mRNA expression of and with hypertension: A combination of case-control study and cohort study.

Hypertension (HT) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Krüppel-like factors (KLFs) are important transcription factors in eukaryotes. Studies have reported that KLF4 and KLF5 are correlated with several cardiovascular diseases, whereas population studies for associations between HT and KLF4 or KLF5 have been rarely reported. Thus, the current study aimed to examines the association of genetic variants and mRNA expression levels of and with HT, as well as the effect of antihypertensive drugs on the expression levels. The associations of one single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in and three SNPs in with HT were investigated using a combination of case-control and cohort studies. The study population were selected from a community-based population cohort in four different regions of Jiangsu Province. Risks of HT were estimated through logistic and Cox regression analyses, respectively. In addition, mRNA expression levels of and were measured in 246 controls and 385 HT cases selected from the cohort study as mentioned above. Among the HT cases, 263 were not taking antihypertensive drugs [AHD(-)] and 122 were taking antihypertensive drugs [AHD(+)]. In the case-control study, SNP rs9573096 (C>T) in was significantly associated with an increased risk of HT in the additive model (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.106; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.009 to 1.212). In the cohort study of the normotensive population, rs9573096 in was also significantly associated with an increased risk of HT in the additive model (adjusted hazards ratio [HR], 1.199; 95% CI, 1.070 to 1.344). and mRNA expression levels were significantly higher in the AHD(-) group than in the control group ( < 0.05), but lower in the AHD(+) group than in the AHD(-) group ( < 0.05). The current study demonstrated the associations of and genetic variants with hypertension, and the indicative discriminations of mRNA expression levels of and for risk of hypertension and antihypertensive treatment.