title: Association of the level of heteroplasmy of the 15059G>A mutation in the MT-CYB mitochondrial gene with essential hypertension.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether the heteroplasmy level for 15059G>A mutation in the mitochondrial genome might be associated with essential hypertension.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study involved 196 unrelated participants randomly selected from general population (90 males and 106 females) who underwent a regular medical check-up at the Institute for Atherosclerosis Research (Moscow, Russia). One hundred and twenty of them (61%) had essential hypertension, and 76 (39%) were apparently healthy normotensive persons. The level of heteroplasmy for 15059G>A mutation occurring in the coding region of cytochrome b gene (MT-CYB) of mtDNA isolated from the blood leukocytes, was quantified using DNA pyrosequencing method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 15059G>A heteroplasmy level ranged between 4% and 83%, with a median level of 31%. Between the upper and lower quartiles of 15059G>A heteroplasmy distribution, significant differences were observed for patients' age, systolic blood pressure, and triglyceride levels. 15059G>A heteroplasmy correlated both with age (r = 0.331, P < 0.001) and the presence of hypertension (r = 0.228, P = 0.002). Regression analysis revealed that the age explains 12% variability of 15059G>A heteroplasmy, and hypertension independently explains more 5% variability. The 15059G>A heteroplasmy exceeding 31% was found to be significantly associated with a higher risk of essential hypertension (odds ratio 2.76; P (Fisher) 0.019]. The study participants with high 15059G>A heteroplasmy level were found to have significantly higher age (P < 0.001) and the prevalence of essential hypertension (P = 0.033), as compared to those with low 15059G>A heteroplasmy level. These observations suggested a positive correlation between the level of 15059G>A heteroplasmy and essential hypertension.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides the evidence of association of mtDNA 15059G>A mutation heteroplasmy with essential hypertension.
authors.affiliation: Igor A Sobenin, Margarita A Sazonova, Anton Y Postnov, Russian Cardiology Research and Production Complex, 121552 Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Igor A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Sobenin
authors.forename: Dimitry A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Chistiakov
authors.forename: Margarita A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sazonova
authors.forename: Maria M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Ivanova
authors.forename: Yuri V
authors.initials: YV
authors.lastname: Bobryshev
authors.forename: Alexander N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Orekhov
authors.forename: Anton Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Postnov
keywords: 15059G>A mutation; Essential hypertension; Heteroplasmy; Mitochondrial DNA