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Genetics of Hypertension and Cardiovascular Disease and Their Interconnected Pathways: Lessons from Large Studies

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Abstract

Blood pressure (BP), hypertension (HT) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are common complex phenotypes, which are affected by multiple genetic and environmental factors. This article describes recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) that have reported causative variants for BP/HT and CVD/heart traits and analyzes the overlapping associated gene polymorphisms. It also examines potential replication of findings from the HyperGEN data on African Americans and whites. Several genes involved in BP/HT regulation also appear to be involved in CVD. A better picture is emerging, with overlapping hot-spot regions and with interconnected pathways between BP/HT and CVD. A systemic approach to full understanding of BP/HT and CVD development and their progression to disease may lead to the identification of gene targets and pathways for the development of novel therapeutic interventions.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) HyperGEN Study grant U01 HL54471 and in part by the NIH Genetic Determinants of the LVH Phenotype grant RO1 HL07178205A.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental tables and figures (as mentioned in this article) are available at https://dsgweb.wustl.edu/OSMP/chr13-1/OSM_chr13-1.pdf.

Disclosure

No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Statistical Genomics, Washington University School of Medicine, 4444 Forest Park Avenue, St. Louis, MO, 63108, USA

    Aldi T. Kraja

  2. Division of Cardiovascular Genetics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Steven C. Hunt

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

    D. C. Rao

  4. Cardiovascular Division, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Victor G. Dávila-Román

  5. Department of Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Donna K. Arnett

  6. Division of Statistical Genomics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Michael A. Province

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  1. Aldi T. Kraja
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  2. Steven C. Hunt
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  3. D. C. Rao
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  4. Victor G. Dávila-Román
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Correspondence to Aldi T. Kraja.

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Kraja, A.T., Hunt, S.C., Rao, D.C. et al. Genetics of Hypertension and Cardiovascular Disease and Their Interconnected Pathways: Lessons from Large Studies. Curr Hypertens Rep 13, 46–54 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11906-010-0174-7

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