An association study between essential hypertension and HLA-DRB1 alleles

It is well established that genetic and environmental factors are involved in the etiology of essential hypertension (EH). Previous studies have suggested that at least one of the HLA genes is responsible for the genetic susceptibility to EH. Our aim in the present study was to investigate this issue in China by the PCR-SSP HLA-DRB1 typing method. The results showed an increased frequency of HLA-DR2 and a decreased frequency of HLA-DR7 with EH patients compared with controls. We consider that HLA-DR2 may represent a marker for susceptibility to EH in the North Chinese population.