[Genetic aspect of essential hypertension]

Essential hypertension affects up to 30% of the adult population; its pathogenesis involves interactions between genetic and environmental factors. Improved understanding of the molecular basis of essential hypertension may facilitate the development of new targeted forms of pharmacological therapy that can be tailored to the needs of individual patients and thereby minimize the risk of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases. The genetic analysis of complex traits and diseases such as blood pressure and hypertension is difficult because of their polygenic origin, genetic heterogeneity, variable penetrance, unknown modes of inheritance, and variable effects of environmental factors. Molecular variants of the angiotensinogen (AGT) gene, a key component of the renin-angiotensin system, are considered a genetic risk for primary hypertension. Some of the genotypes can be used to identify individual patients who would benefit from a specific anti-hypertensive treatment as well as from a specific life style modification.