Loci influencing blood pressure identified using a cardiovascular gene-centric array.
Ganesh SK., Tragante V., Guo W., Guo Y., Lanktree MB., Smith EN., Johnson T., Castillo BA., Barnard J., Baumert J., Chang Y-PC., Elbers CC., Farrall M., Fischer ME., Franceschini N., Gaunt TR., Gho JMIH., Gieger C., Gong Y., Isaacs A., Kleber ME., Mateo Leach I., McDonough CW., Meijs MFL., Mellander O., Molony CM., Nolte IM., Padmanabhan S., Price TS., Rajagopalan R., Shaffer J., Shah S., Shen H., Soranzo N., van der Most PJ., Van Iperen EPA., Van Setten J., Vonk JM., Zhang L., Beitelshees AL., Berenson GS., Bhatt DL., Boer JMA., Boerwinkle E., Burkley B., Burt A., Chakravarti A., Chen W., Cooper-Dehoff RM., Curtis SP., Dreisbach A., Duggan D., Ehret GB., Fabsitz RR., Fornage M., Fox E., Furlong CE., Gansevoort RT., Hofker MH., Hovingh GK., Kirkland SA., Kottke-Marchant K., Kutlar A., Lacroix AZ., Langaee TY., Li YR., Lin H., Liu K., Maiwald S., Malik R., CARDIOGRAM, METASTROKE None., Murugesan G., Newton-Cheh C., O'Connell JR., Onland-Moret NC., Ouwehand WH., Palmas W., Penninx BW., Pepine CJ., Pettinger M., Polak JF., Ramachandran VS., Ranchalis J., Redline S., Ridker PM., Rose LM., Scharnag H., Schork NJ., Shimbo D., Shuldiner AR., Srinivasan SR., Stolk RP., Taylor HA., Thorand B., Trip MD., van Duijn CM., Verschuren WM., Wijmenga C., Winkelmann BR., Wyatt S., Young JH., Boehm BO., Caulfield MJ., Chasman DI., Davidson KW., Doevendans PA., Fitzgerald GA., Gums JG., Hakonarson H., Hillege HL., Illig T., Jarvik GP., Johnson JA., Kastelein JJP., Koenig W., LifeLines Cohort Study None., März W., Mitchell BD., Murray SS., Oldehinkel AJ., Rader DJ., Reilly MP., Reiner AP., Schadt EE., Silverstein RL., Snieder H., Stanton AV., Uitterlinden AG., van der Harst P., van der Schouw YT., Samani NJ., Johnson AD., Munroe PB., de Bakker PIW., Zhu X., Levy D., Keating BJ., Asselbergs FW.
Blood pressure (BP) is a heritable determinant of risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). To investigate genetic associations with systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and pulse pressure (PP), we genotyped ∼50 000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that capture variation in ∼2100 candidate genes for cardiovascular phenotypes in 61 619 individuals of European ancestry from cohort studies in the USA and Europe. We identified novel associations between rs347591 and SBP (chromosome 3p25.3, in an intron of HRH1) and between rs2169137 and DBP (chromosome1q32.1 in an intron of MDM4) and between rs2014408 and SBP (chromosome 11p15 in an intron of SOX6), previously reported to be associated with MAP. We also confirmed 10 previously known loci associated with SBP, DBP, MAP or PP (ADRB1, ATP2B1, SH2B3/ATXN2, CSK, CYP17A1, FURIN, HFE, LSP1, MTHFR, SOX6) at array-wide significance (P < 2.4 × 10(-6)). We then replicated these associations in an independent set of 65 886 individuals of European ancestry. The findings from expression QTL (eQTL) analysis showed associations of SNPs in the MDM4 region with MDM4 expression. We did not find any evidence of association of the two novel SNPs in MDM4 and HRH1 with sequelae of high BP including coronary artery disease (CAD), left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) or stroke. In summary, we identified two novel loci associated with BP and confirmed multiple previously reported associations. Our findings extend our understanding of genes involved in BP regulation, some of which may eventually provide new targets for therapeutic intervention.