Association of endothelin-1 gene polymorphisms with essential hypertension in a Chinese population

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is the most potent endogenous vasoconstrictor and is involved in several vascular disorders such as hypertension. Its strong interaction with other vasoactive hormone systems suggests that the ET-1 gene (EDN1) is a potential candidate molecule that influences the risk of developing hypertension. Recently, two single nucleotide polymorphisms in EDN1 have been reported to be associated with hypertension: Lys198Asn and 3A/4A (-134delA) located in the 5'-untranslated region. To determine the association of these two polymorphisms with hypertension, we genotyped patients and controls (N = 537) and compared the allele and genotype frequencies between groups. There was no significant difference in the genotype frequencies of these two polymorphisms between healthy controls and hypertension patients. Although previous reports have revealed a significant interaction between the END1 Lys198Asn (G/T) polymorphism and body mass index in association with hypertension, no such relationship was observed in the present study. Further, we compared blood pressure among hypertensive subjects and observed that neither systolic nor diastolic blood pressure was significantly associated with variations in the genotypes of the two single nucleotide polymorphisms. In summary, these two END1 polymorphisms do not appear to affect the development of hypertension in the Chinese population.