Genetic determinants of the stress response in cardiovascular disease

Originating from Hans Selye's general concept, the biological notion of the stress response implicates neuroendocrine and endocrine pathways as well as their cellular mediators as components of the general adaptation syndrome and its consequences. A highly variable degree of response to psychological and physical stresses has been noted in experimental animals and in human populations. Some stressors, such as the "cold pressor test," have been developed as tools for disease prediction. They apply to variable conditions, from hypertension to insulin resistance, but mostly in relation to cardiovascular outcomes. Other environmental factors, including the degree of salt intake, potentiate the stress response in animals and humans. Our group has undertaken to explore the genetic determinants of the stress response in inbred strains, recombinant congenic and congenic strains, as well as founder human populations. We have succeeded, initially, in linking increased body temperature, a major phenotypic response to stress, to the quantitative trait loci (QTL), one at myh3 on chromosome (Chr) 10, one at hsp27 on Chr 12, and one on Chr Y in the rat. The expression of several stress proteins is under the dominant influence of hstf1 at the rat Chr 7 locus (Mit3). The high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases with traits of enhanced stress responsiveness is discussed here in the context of a paradigm, such as hypertension, in the general population.