Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-6-2011
Abstract
Blood pressure is a heritable trait influenced by several biological pathways and responsive to environmental stimuli. Over one billion people worldwide have hypertension (≥140mmg Hg systolic blood pressure ≥90mmg Hg diastolic blood pressure). Even small increments in blood pressure are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. This genome-wide association study of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which used a multi-stage design in 200,000 individuals of European descent, identified sixteen novel loci: six of these loci contain genes previously known or suspected to regulate blood pressure (GUCY1A3 GUCY1B3, NPR3 C5orf23, ADM, FURIN FES, GOSR2, GNAS EDN3); the other ten provide new clues to blood pressure physiology. A genetic risk score based on 29 genome-wide significant variants was associated with hypertension, left ventricular wall thickness, stroke and coronary artery disease, but not kidney disease or kidney function. We also observed associations with blood pressure in East Asian, South Asian and African ancestry individuals. Our findings provide new insights into the genetics and biology of blood pressure, and suggest potential novel therapeutic pathways for cardiovascular disease prevention. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
Publication Source (Journal or Book title)
Nature
First Page
103
Last Page
109
Recommended Citation
Ehret, G., Munroe, P., Rice, K., Bochud, M., Johnson, A., Chasman, D., Smith, A., Tobin, M., Verwoert, G., Hwang, S., Pihur, V., Vollenweider, P., O'Reilly, P., Amin, N., Bragg-Gresham, J., Teumer, A., Glazer, N., Launer, L., Zhao, J., Aulchenko, Y., Heath, S., Sober, S., Parsa, A., Luan, J., Arora, P., Dehghan, A., Zhang, F., Lucas, G., Hicks, A., Jackson, A., Peden, J., Tanaka, T., & Wild, S. (2011). Genetic variants in novel pathways influence blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk. Nature, 478 (7367), 103-109. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10405