Genetic associations with blood pressure found. Discovery could guide future hypertension treatments
Genetic associations with blood pressure have been discovered by a team of Vanderbilt University Medical Center scientists, along with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The discovery could guide future treatments for patients with high blood pressure.
The study is published in Nature Genetics and has used data from different sources such as VA Million Veteran Program, which is aimed at collecting blood samples and health details from one million veteran volunteers, and United Kingdom Bio-bank.
The scientists found more than 250 new genetic variants, and also identified over 400 new genes associated with blood pressure through changes in gene expression. The findings also indicate that many drugs not presently used in the treatment of hypertension can prove to be useful to lower blood pressure.
Associate Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Dr Todd Edwards said, “We’re redrawing the map of blood pressure genetics.” According to the scientists, they are quite close to introduce new improvements in the treatment of hypertension based on the genetic makeup of the patients. Research fellow Jacob Keaton, who identified gene-drug interactions forming an important part of the study, told that their aim was to bring findings in front so as to have an impact on precision medicine. Using the electronic health records of over 300,000 people participating in VA Million Veteran Program and over 140,000 people participating in UK Biobank, the study assessed the connection between blood pressure traits and genetic variants. The study is one of the most racially diverse genetic inquiries of its kind.
The findings were replicated by assessing 17,000 samples from the Vanderbilt University Biobank while 300,000 were analyzed from large consortia of blood pressure studies.
According to Edwards, blood pressure is quite a complex thing and so, as the sample size of these types of studies is increased, it might be possible to discover that no place in the genome has a zero effect on a trait like blood pressure, though the effects may be too subtle. Therefore, a lot more needs to be learnt. At present, it can’t be precisely assessed, by looking at the genotype, what someone’s blood pressure is going to be at age 65, but the type of treatment required can be accurately customized based on the results from this study.
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