title: Exploring hypertension genome-wide association studies findings and impact on pathophysiology, pathways, and pharmacogenetics.
abstract: Hypertension is a major risk factor for global mortality. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have led to successful identification of many genetic loci influencing blood pressure, although these studies account for less than 5% of heritability. While genetic discovery efforts continue, it is timely to pause and reflect on what information has been gained to date from reported loci. Knowledge from GWAS findings inform our understanding of the pathways and pleiotropy underpinning hypertension and aid in the identification of potential druggable targets. By reviewing blood pressure loci we aim to determine how much potential the current observations have for future clinical utility.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article.
authors: Department of Clinical Pharmacology, William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK; NIHR Barts Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
authors: Claudia P
authors: CP
authors: Cabrera
authors: Fu Liang
authors: FL
authors: Ng
authors: Helen R
authors: HR
authors: Warren
authors: Michael R
authors: MR
authors: Barnes
authors: Patricia B
authors: PB
authors: Munroe
authors: Mark J
authors: MJ
authors: Caulfield
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D056426:Genetic Loci; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D010597:Pharmacogenetics; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012084:Renin-Angiotensin System; D058949:Uromodulin / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D058949:Uromodulin