title: Five blood pressure loci identified by an updated genome-wide linkage scan: meta-analysis of the Family Blood Pressure Program.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A preliminary genome-wide linkage analysis of blood pressure in the Family Blood Pressure Program (FBPP) was reported previously. We harnessed the power and ethnic diversity of the final pooled FBPP dataset to identify novel loci for blood pressure thereby enhancing localization of genes containing less common variants with large effects on blood pressure levels and hypertension.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed one overall and 4 race-specific meta-analyses of genome-wide blood pressure linkage scans using data on 4,226 African-American, 2,154 Asian, 4,229 Caucasian, and 2,435 Mexican-American participants (total N = 13,044). Variance components models were fit to measured (raw) blood pressure levels and two types of antihypertensive medication adjusted blood pressure phenotypes within each of 10 subgroups defined by race and network. A modified Fisher's method was used to combine the P values for each linkage marker across the 10 subgroups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were detected on chromosomes 6p22.3, 8q23.1, 20q13.12, 21q21.1, and 21q21.3 based on significant linkage evidence (defined by logarithm of odds (lod) score ≥3) in at least one meta-analysis and lod scores ≥1 in at least 2 subgroups defined by network and race. The chromosome 8q23.1 locus was supported by Asian-, Caucasian-, and Mexican-American-specific meta-analyses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The new QTLs reported justify new candidate gene studies. They may help support results from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) that fall in these QTL regions but fail to achieve the genome-wide significance.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biostatistics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Jeannette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Simino
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Rezart
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kume
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schwander
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Province
authors.forename: C Charles
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kardia
authors.forename: Aravinda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chakravarti
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ehret
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Olshen
authors.forename: Stephen T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Low-Tone
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Cashell
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jaquish
authors.forename: Dina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paltoo
authors.forename: Richard S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weder
authors.forename: J David
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Curb
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Boerwinkle
authors.forename: Steven C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.forename: Dabeeru C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Rao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000235:genetics*; D002896:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 6; D005260:Female; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci