title: Genome-wide association studies of hypertension: have they been fruitful?
abstract: Over the last two decades candidate gene association studies and genome-wide linkage scans have met with little success in characterizing risk variants for hypertension. Several factors could be responsible for the relative lack of success, although our understanding of the genetics has evolved to support the belief that there are multiple common risk variants, which are associated with hypertension with modest effect sizes. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have successfully identified risk loci for several complex polygenic disease states. Until recently, the productivity of GWAS with respect to identifying risk loci for hypertension was limited. In this paper we describe the recent success of GWAS of hypertension in identifying over a dozen loci associated with essential hypertension. We will review these findings, and place these results in the context of the future potential of pharmocogenetics of hypertension.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Sajjad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rafiq
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anand
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roberts
mesh_terms: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D018703:Founder Effect; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D014644:Genetic Variation; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010597:Pharmacogenetics; D010641:Phenotype; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents