title: Programming of Essential Hypertension: What Pediatric Cardiologists Need to Know.
abstract: Hypertension is recognized as one of the major contributing factors to cardiovascular disease, but its etiology remains incompletely understood. Known genetic and environmental influences can only explain a small part of the variability in cardiovascular disease risk. The missing heritability is currently one of the most important challenges in blood pressure and hypertension genetics. Recently, some promising approaches have emerged that move beyond the DNA sequence and focus on identification of blood pressure genes regulated by epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modification and microRNAs. This review summarizes information on gene-environmental interactions that lead toward the developmental programming of hypertension with specific reference to epigenetics and provides pediatricians and pediatric cardiologists with a more complete understanding of its pathogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Pediatrics Department, Hospital do Espírito Santo de Évora, Largo Senhor da Pobreza, 7000-811, Évora, Portugal. joanamorgado@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Joana
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3959-0234
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morgado
authors.affiliation: Pediatrics Department, Hospital Garcia de Orta, Almada, Portugal.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sanches
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Cardiology Department, Hospital Santa Cruz, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Anjos
authors.affiliation: Genetics Laboratory, Environmental Health Institute, Lisbon Medical School, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Constança
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Coelho
mesh_terms: D001794:Blood Pressure; D019175:DNA Methylation / Q000235:genetics*; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D000075222:Essential Hypertension; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Environment; Epigenetics; Genes; Hypertension