POLYMORPHISM OF ALPHA-ADDUCIN IN JAPANESE PATIENTS WITH ESSENTIAL-HYPERTENSION

Recently, a molecular variant of alpha-adducin (with tryptophan instea d of glycine at amino acid number 460) has been reported to be more co mmon among Italian and French hypertensive individuals than among cont rols. Moreover, hypertensive individuals with Trp460 exhibit a greater sensitivity to changes in sodium balance and a greater fall in blood pressure in response to diuretic treatment. In the present study, we i nvestigated the association between Gly460Trp polymorphism of the a-ad ducin gene and hypertension in Japanese subjects. The study population comprised 283 subjects enrolled at our outpatient clinic. The subject s were divided into normotensive (NT), borderline (B), and hypertensiv e (HT) groups, The alpha-adducin genotype was determined by allele-spe cific oligonucleotide hybridization. The genotype frequency of Gly460T rp polymorphism differed significantly among the NT, B, and HT groups (p = 0.0113), The GG genotype of the adducin gene was more common in t he NT group than in the HT group. Moreover, the Trp460 allele was sign ificantly associated with lower plasma renin activity (p 0.0075). Howe ver, this polymorphism was unrelated to left ventricular mass and heig ht as assessed by echocardiography. The present study suggests that Gl y460Trp polymorphism of the alpha-adducin gene may be involved in hype rtension, particularly the low-renin type, in Japanese individuals.