Ft. Chiang et al., NUCLEOTIDE(-258) G-TO-A TRANSITION VARIANT OF THE LIVER GLUCOKINASE GENE IS ASSOCIATED WITH ESSENTIAL-HYPERTENSION, American journal of hypertension, 10(9), 1997, pp. 1049-1052
Hypertension is a complex disease with strong genetic influences. Esse
ntial hypertension has been shown to be associated with insulin resist
ance. A molecular variant with G-to-A transition at the nucleotide -25
8 of the liver glucokinase (GCK) promoter was found in diabetic patien
ts. The variant A allele is associated with insulin resistance. We exa
mine the role of this genetic variant in the pathogenesis of hypertens
ion using a population association study. We recruited 205 Taiwanese s
ubjects and they were divided into two groups based on either presence
(65 subjects) or absence (140 subjects) of essential hypertension. Ge
nomic DNA was extracted from peripheral leukocytes. Genotypes at this
locus were determined by using a polymerase chain reaction restriction
fragment length polymorphism. The distribution of genotypic frequency
was different between the hypertensive and control groups (P = .009).
The frequency of variant A allele was greater in hypertensive subject
s than in control (23% v 10%, P = .001). Subjects with at least an A a
llele had a risk for hypertension by 2.52 times (95% confidence interv
al 1.29 to 4.91) as compared with those without an A allele, Thus, we
first demonstrate the association between the G-to-A variants at the n
ucleotide -258 of the liver GCK gene and essential hypertension. This
may explain the insulin resistance in essential hypertension and the v
ariant A allele as a risk factor for essential hypertension in the Tai
wanese population. (C) 1997 American Journal of Hypertension, Ltd.