ASSOCIATION OF NOS3 GENE POLYMORPHISMS WITH ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION IN SOUTH INDIAN POPULATION

Abstract

Essential hypertension involves both genetic and environmental factors. It is often described as silent killer, if left untreated it leads to heart failure, stroke and kidney failure. The present study aims to study the polymorphisms (894G>T in exon 7, 786T>C in the 5’ flanking region, 4b/4a 27 bp VNTR Intron 4 and 10G>T in intron 23) of Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS3) gene implicated in hypertension. A PCR-PFLP analysis was carried for four NOS3 gene polymorphisms. The present study did not associate the T allele of G894G>T polymorphism as a risk factor for hypertension. Higher risk was obtained for individuals with CC genotypes for 786 T>C and for males who were homozygous for 4a allele of 27 bp VNTR intron 4 polymorphism at the NOS3 locus.