ASSOCIATIONS OF ANGIOTENSINOGEN GENE-MUTATIONS WITH HYPERTENSION AND MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION IN A GULF POPULATION

To date, the human angiotensinogen (AGT) gene and some of its variants represent the best examples of genetic influences that are involved i n the determination of essential hypertension (EH) and associated card iovascular diseases (CVDs). To assess the value of genotyping AGT in a genetically homogeneous population, we carried out a retrospective, c ase-control study of variants M235T and T174M for putative correlation s with CVDs among nationals from the United Arab Emirates (Emirati) - an ethnic group characterized by no alcohol intake and no cigarette sm oking. We investigated a sample population of 229 Emirati (119 males a nd 110 females), comprising groups of controls and patients with clini cal diagnoses of EH, left ventricular hypertrophy (I,VH), ischaemic he art disease (IHD) and myocardial infarction (MI). M235T and T174M alle les were determined via assays based on the polymerase chain reaction. T174M showed no correlation with any of the four clinical entities in cluded in this study. T235 alleles, however, occurred more frequently in the EH group and less frequently in the group of MI survivors. We a lso found that T235 allele frequencies decreased with age, indicating that in the Emirati population, T235 alleles are associated with a red uced life span and that this effect could occur through independent me chanisms underlying genetic susceptibilities to both EH and MI.