Association study of CD36 single nucleotide polymorphisms with essential hypertension in the Northeastern Han Chinese

- We carried on a series study between CD36 gene and essential hypertension.
- The population studied for the + 273A/G polymorphism is so far the largest in China.
- + 273A/G polymorphism is associated with essential hypertension.
- + 273G is an independent predictor of EH and a molecular marker for diagnosis.
- The association is related to gender and obesity.

We found that cluster determinant 36 (CD36) gene is up-regulated in essential hypertension (EH) patients in our former research, but the association between CD36 gene variations and EH has not yet been clearly demonstrated. The relationship between CD36 gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and EH in the northeastern Han Chinese was examined in the present study through direct sequencing and genotype-detection. A total of 589 unrelated northeastern Han Chinese including 276 with EH and 313 controls were studied. SNPs in exon 7, exon 13 and intron 4 were detected using PCR-sequencing. The genotypes were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) or polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP). + 216T/C, + 273A/G, + 132C/T, + 217T/C, + 212T/G and + 233T/C polymorphisms were identified. Distributions of genotypes AA, GA and GG of + 273A/G polymorphism were significantly different between EH group and the control group (χ2: 9.056, p = 0.011) and G allelic frequency was higher in EH (p = 0.006, OR = 1.629, 95% CI [1.224-2.168]). Logistic regression analysis showed that + 273A/G polymorphism was closely associated with blood pressure (BP) after adjusting for ages. When subclassified by sex, the genotype distribution of + 273A/G (p = 0.011) and allelic frequency of G allele (p = 0.006) were significantly different between EH participants and controls in males, but not in females. Subgroup analysis performed by body mass index (BMI) suggested that the genotype distribution of + 273A/G and allelic frequency were significantly different in non-obese group and non-obese men, but the associations were not significant (non-obese group: p = 0.016, OR = 1.664, 95% CI [1.459-2.409]; non-obese men: p = 0.073, OR = 1.898, 95% CI [1.033-3.487]). + 273A/G polymorphism in CD36 gene was associated with EH, and + 273G could be an independent predictor.

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