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Updated: May 22, 2026

Candidate Gene Testing in Clinical Cohort Studies with Multiplexed Genotyping and Mass Spectrometry
Published on: June 21, 2018
A two-stage matched case-control study on multiple hypertensive candidate genes in Han Chinese
Tai-Yue Kuo1, Mei-Jyh Kang, Jaw-Wen Chen
1Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
Insights
This study identified two novel single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with young-onset hypertension in Han Chinese in Taiwan. These genetic markers in GNB3 and INSR genes offer new insights into hypertension risk factors.
Area of Science:
- Genetics
- Cardiovascular Disease Research
- Population Health
Background:
- Hypertension affects over a billion people globally, contributing to significant mortality from stroke and cardiovascular diseases.
- In Taiwan, approximately 3.8 million adults have hypertension, highlighting its public health importance.
- Hypertension is a critical risk factor for severe health outcomes, including stroke, cardiovascular disease, and end-stage renal disease, causing over 13.5 million deaths annually worldwide.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate genetic associations with young-onset hypertension in a Han Chinese population in Taiwan.
- To identify novel single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) linked to hypertension susceptibility.
- To explore the role of candidate genes in the development of hypertension.
Main Methods:
- A two-stage association study was conducted using genotype data from 992 young-onset hypertensive cases and 992 matched controls.
- Genomic analysis focused on 238 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within 36 established hypertension candidate genes.
- Conditional logistic regression was employed for association analysis.
Main Results:
- Two SNPs demonstrated strong associations with hypertension in both study stages.
- rs2301339, located in the guanine nucleotide-binding protein β3 subunit (GNB3) gene, was identified as a significant risk factor.
- rs17254521, situated in the insulin receptor (INSR) gene, was also significantly associated with hypertension.
Conclusions:
- This research identified a novel SNP in GNB3 (rs2301339) and a novel SNP in INSR (rs17254521) associated with young-onset hypertension.
- The identified GNB3 SNP (rs2301339) is in linkage disequilibrium with rs5443, showing an opposite effect compared to previous findings in Caucasian populations.
- Further replication studies with larger sample sizes are recommended to validate these findings and their clinical implications.
Background:
Hypertension affects about 1/3 of adults worldwide, ~3.8 million in Taiwan, 160 million in China, and 1 billion worldwide. It is a major risk factor leading to stroke, cardiovascular disease, and end-stage renal disease. In each year, more than 13.5 million deaths are due to hypertension-related diseases worldwide.
Methods:
We performed a two-stage association study of hypertension using genotype data of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 992 young-onset hypertensive cases and 992 matched controls of Han Chinese in Taiwan. A total of 238 SNPs of 36 highly replicated hypertension candidate genes with functional importance were investigated. Association analysis was carried out using conditional logistic regression.
Results:
We identified two SNPs that were strongly associated with hypertension in both the first and the second stages. The first SNP (rs2301339) is located at guanine nucleotide-binding protein β3 subunit (GNB3) and the other one (rs17254521) is located at insulin receptor (INSR).
Conclusions:
SNP rs2301339 is perfectly linked in linkage disequilibrium (LD) with C825T (rs5443) which has been associated with hypertension in Caucasian, but inconsistent in Asian populations. However, we found that in our sample this SNP has an opposite effect with the previous findings. In summary, this study identified one novel SNP in GNB3 and one novel SNP in INSR that are strongly associated with young-onset hypertension. Due to relatively small sample size, the results should still be interpreted with caution and need to be replicated in other studies.
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