Genome scan among Nigerians linking blood pressure to chromosomes 2, 3, and 19

An understanding of the genetic influences on hypertension would help unravel the pathophysiology of this complex disorder and improve our understanding of causal mechanisms. Contemporary technology makes it possible to examine enough genetic markers to support a generalized search across the entire genome for candidate regions. In the present study, a family set was recruited from southwest Nigeria, and 378 microsatellite markers were typed on 792 individuals in 196 families. Multipoint variance component analysis identified linkage signals (logarithm of the odds [LOD]>1.74, P<0.0023) for systolic blood pressure on 19p (D19S714) and 19q (D19S246), whereas for diastolic blood pressure, linkage was observed on 2p (D2S1790), 3p (D3S1304), 5q (D5S1462), 7p (D7S3046), 7q (D7S821), and 10q (D10S1221). Other regions of interest (1.18<LOD<1.74, 0.0023<P<0.01) were found on chromosomes 1, 6, 8, 9, and 11. These results provide additional evidence of linkage between blood pressure and several genomic regions reported in previous studies. Some of these regions additionally harbor hypertension candidate genes. Although evidence of linkage for blood pressure has been very slow to accumulate, even in comparison to other complex traits, the sum of current evidence appears to implicate, in particular, 2p, 3p, and 19p. Study designs that make it possible to confirm these results with association analysis and narrow the genomic interval are needed in order to make progress in this field.