FREQUENCY OF RENIN GENE RESTRICTION-FRAGMENT-LENGTH-POLYMORPHISM IN HYPERTENSIVES WITH A GENETIC PREDISPOSITION TO HYPERTENSION

The genetic basis of essential hypertension is still uncertain. Becaus e renin is thought to be a candidate gene for essential hypertension, a prospective study was conducted to compare the frequency of renin ge ne HindIII restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) in normoten sive and hypertensive subjects without (HTG-) and with a genetic predi sposition to essential hypertension (HTG+). The frequency of the 9.0-k b fragment was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the HTG+ group than in the normotensive and HTG- groups. An association between renin RFLP and hypertension in man was shown for the first time. It is suggested that a gene for blood pressure regulation has been localized to a par t of the genome close to, or identical to, the renin locus.