Common variants in the ATP2B1 gene are associated with hypertension and arterial stiffness in Chinese population

Genome-wide association studies have identified the ATP2B1 gene associated with blood pressure (BP), the evidence from large scale Chinese population was still rare. We performed the current replication study to test the association of the ATP2B1 gene and hypertension and BP in two unrelated Chinese cohorts including 2,831 unrelated individuals with hypertension and 1,987 controls in total. We also examined the influences of the ATP2B1 gene on the arterial stiffness through evaluation of carotid-femoral pulse wave velocities (cf-PWV) in 164 untreated hypertensives. The major findings of this study were that four loci--rs10858911, rs2681472, rs17249754 and rs1401982--associated with any or all of four traits: hypertension (P = 0.001-4.6E-05; odds ratio, 0.83-0.87), systolic BP (P = 0.003-0.004), diastolic BP (P = 0.002-0.003) and cf-PWV (P = 0.002-0.004). All the comparisons were adjusted for sex, age, age(2) and body mass index. We validated the association of the ATP2B1 gene and susceptibility to hypertension, BP traits and cf-PWV in Chinese population. In addition, further genetic and functional research was warranted to elucidate the concrete locus in the ATP2B1 gene that influenced the manifestation of BP and vascular function.