Candidate gene polymorphisms and their association with hypertension in Malays

BackgroundKnowledge of candidate gene polymorphisms in a population is useful for a variety of gene-disease association studies, particularly for some complex traits. A single nucleotide variant of the angiotensinogene gene (AGT M235T) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene (eNOS G894T) have been associated with hypertension.MethodA cross-sectional study consisting of 200 hypertensives and 198 age- and sex-matched controls was conducted. Subjects involved in this study were pure Malay for 3 generations. The AGT M235T and eNOS G894T polymorphisms were determined by PCR-RFLP method.ResultsThe distribution of M235T genotype in the population was 3.5% for MM, 30.4% for MT and 66.1% for TT. No significant difference was observed in genotype (χ2 = 1.30, p = 0.52) and allele (χ2 = 0.87, p = 0.35) frequencies among the 2 study group. In contrast, the distribution of genotypes for G894T was 74.1% for GG, 24.6% for GT and 1.3% for TT, respectively. Similarly, no significant difference was observed in genotype (χ2 = 0.94, p = 0.33) and allele (χ2 = 0.60, p = 0.44) frequencies between both study groups.ConclusionThe AGT M235T and eNOS G894T polymorphisms are unlikely to play an important role in the pathogenesis of hypertension in Malays.