Polymorphism of the promoter region of prostacyclin synthase gene is not related to essential hypertension

An impaired synthesis of prostacyclin has been implicated in the developmen t of essential hypertension (EH). We therefore investigated whether there i s an association between the prostacyclin synthase (PGIS) gene and EH using a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism in the promoter re gion that influences transcriptional activity of this gene. A total of 125 patients with EH and 125 age-matched subjects with normal blood pressure we re studied, The number of VNTR of the five alleles ranged from 3 to 7 repea ts in the 250 unrelated Japanese subjects. The allele frequency distributio n in the two groups were not significantly different. Thus, this VNTR polym orphism in the PGIS gene is not associated with EH. (C) 2001 American Journ al of Hypertension, Ltd.