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Associations of epithelial sodium channel genes with blood pressure: the GenSalt study

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Abstract

In order to investigate the associations of SCNN1A, SCNN1G and SCNN1B genes with blood pressure (BP) in the Han Chinese population, we included 2880 participants did not use antihypertensive medication in the month prior to the baseline survey in the current analysis. Forty-four tag-single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) genes were selected and genotyped, and nine BP measurements were obtained during the 3-day examination. In the single-marker analyses, we identified significant associations of SCNN1A marker rs13306613 with diastolic BP (DBP) and SCNN1B marker rs12447134 with systolic BP (SBP) under codominant model after Bonferroni’s correction (P=2.82 × 10−5 and 4.63 × 10−4, respectively). In addition, five SNPs in SCNN1G and four SNPs in SCNN1B achieved nominal significance for SBP, DBP or mean arterial pressure (MAP) under the additive model. For example, the minor C allele of rs5735 in SCNN1G gene was associated with decreased SBP, DBP and MAP (P=0.016, 5.41 × 10−3 and 4.36 × 10−3, respectively). Gene-based results showed significant associations of SCNN1G and SCNN1B with BP levels. This study suggested that ENaC genes have important roles in BP regulation in the Han Chinese population. Future studies are warranted to replicate these findings, and functional studies are needed to identify true causal variants in ENaC genes.

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Acknowledgements

The Genetic Epidemiology Network of Salt Sensitivity (GenSalt) is supported by research grants (U01HL072507, R01HL087263 and R01HL090682) from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA and the High-Tech Research and Development Program of China (863 Plan) (2012AA02A516).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease, Fuwai Hospital, National Center of Cardiovascular Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

    F Liu, X Yang, X Mo, J Huang, J Chen, J Li & D Gu

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA

    J Chen, T N Kelly & J He

  3. Department of Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA

    J Chen & J He

  4. Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX, USA

    J E Hixson & L C Shimmin

  5. Division of Biostatistics, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA

    D C Rao, C C Gu, T K Rice & K Schwander

  6. National Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

    D-p Liu

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  1. F Liu
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  2. X Yang
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  3. X Mo
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  4. J Huang
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  6. T N Kelly
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  9. C C Gu
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  10. L C Shimmin
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  11. J Chen
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  13. J Li
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  15. J He
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  16. D-p Liu
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Correspondence to D Gu.

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Liu, F., Yang, X., Mo, X. et al. Associations of epithelial sodium channel genes with blood pressure: the GenSalt study. J Hum Hypertens 29, 224–228 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2014.78

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