Associations of Neprilysin and Its Coding Gene Variation With Hypertension in Chinese Adults

Neprilysin (NEP) degrades several vasoactive peptides and may contribute to blood pressure maintenance. This study aims to examine the associations between serum NEP levels and variants at its coding gene and hypertension in a general Chinese population. Leveraging the baseline blood specimens of the Gusu cohort, serum NEP was assayed, and 14 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the MME gene were genotyped (10 passed the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium test) by MassArray for 2286 participants (mean age 52 years, 61.4% females). The associations of serum NEP and SNPs with hypertension were examined by logistic regression. Major conventional risk factors, including lifestyle and metabolic factors, were adjusted for. We found that participants with a higher level of serum NEP were more likely to have prevalent hypertension (OR = 1.07, 95%CI: 1.02-1.13, p = 0.006 for log2-transformed NEP). The SNP rs9864287 was associated with hypertension susceptibility (P < 0.05), but this association was not significant after correction for multiple comparisons. These results suggested that there was a weak association between serum NEP and hypertension in Chinese adults, independent of conventional risk factors. The role of NEP in hypertension remains to be elucidated.