ASSOCIATION STUDY OF MUTATION G(-75)-]A IN THE PROMOTER OF THE HUMAN APOLIPOPROTEIN AI GENE AND ESSENTIAL-HYPERTENSION

We carried out an association (case-control) study on 156 unrelated na tionals (78 hypertensives and 78 normotensives) from the Abu Dhabi Emi rate (UAE) with a view to evaluating the relationship of a candidate g ene locus - the human apolipoprotein AI (Ape AI) gene - to essential h ypertension in this population of Gulf Arabs. We investigated the dist ribution of alleles of a dimorphism located in the promoter region of the Apo AI gene; this bi-allelic marker, due to a G-->A substitution a t position -75 of the Apo AI gene, was visualized by restriction endon uclease analysis of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products from all 156 subjects. In each of the two groups (normotensives and hypertensiv es) allele frequencies occurred in Hardy-Weinberg proportions. Respect ive frequencies of A(-75) and G(-75) alleles, however, were found to b e identical (17% and 83%) amongst normotensives and hypertensives. We conclude that the G(-75)-->A mutation of the Apo AI gene (or genetic v ariants that may be in linkage disequilibrium with it) do not contribu te significantly to the determination of essential hypertension amongs t Emiratis.