Extensive Genetic Analysis of 10 Candidate Genes for Hypertension in Japanese

Abstract
The identification of genes that contribute to essential hypertension has been hampered because of a lack of statistical power and problems with multiple testing. In the present study, we performed association analyses between the 161 single nucleotide polymorphisms of 10 candidate genes and hypertension in a Japanese population recruited from the Suita Study (n=3654). We found that 5 polymorphisms in the 3 genes (SLC9A2, UMOD, and ELN) were associated with hypertension status, and 4 of these 5 polymorphisms were also associated with blood pressure values with a classical criterion of P<0.05. However, when a Bonferroni correction for multiple testing was applied, none of the polymorphisms were associated with blood pressure levels. We also performed association analyses between these 5 polymorphisms and intermediate phenotypes corresponding with the functions of candidate genes, including the renin/aldosterone profile, plasma uric acid levels, and pulse wave velocity. The ELN 3′-untranslated region (−/A) ...