[Genetic analysis of responsible genes for essential hypertension]

Recent progress in positional cloning strategy has facilitated analysis of genes responsible for multifactorial diseases such as essential hypertension. To overcome heterogeneous characteristics in essential hypertension, several methods have been developed. Among these, linkage analysis using genetic rat models of hypertension is one of the most promising strategies. We performed linkage analysis using the most commonly used hypertensive model rat, the spontaneously hypertensive rat, finding 3 genomic regions on chromosomes 1, 3 and 10 containing the genes with putative responsibility for hypertension. Since a candidate SA gene was known to be located on chromosome 1, we evaluated this genetic locus in human essential hypertension. Unfortunately, the result did not support the major effects of the SA locus in human essential hypertension. However, with this strategy, we can expect that major genes responsible for hypertension will be identified in the near future.