Published in

Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, Medicine, 15(95), p. e2968, 2016

DOI: 10.1097/md.0000000000002968

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

STK39 and WNK1 Are Potential Hypertension Susceptibility Genes in the BELHYPGEN Cohort

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

The serine/threonine kinase With-No-Lysine (K) Kinase 1 (WNK1) activates the thiazide-sensitive Na+/Cl− cotransporter through phosphorylation of STE20/SPS1-related proline/alanine-rich kinase, another serine/threonine kinase encoded by STK39. The aim of this study was to look for association between WNK1 and STK39 gene variants, and blood pressure (BP) and hypertension. Seven hundred seventy-nine Caucasian hypertensive patients (HYP) recruited in 6 academic centers from Belgium, and 906 normotensive (NT) controls were genotyped for 5 single nucleotide polymorphisms—rs3754777, rs6749447, rs35929607 (STK39), rs1468326, and rs765250 (WNK1)—using the Snapshot method. The rare TT genotype at the rs3754777 locus (STK39) was overrepresented in HYP versus NT (7.3% vs 3.0%, P = 0.0002). In the whole study population, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (OR) for having hypertension associated with the TT genotype was 5.9 (95% confidence interval: 2.2–15.6), and systolic BP was 10 mm Hg higher in TT compared with wild-type subjects (140.1 vs 130.4 mm Hg, P = 0.002). Similarly, the AA genotype at the rs1468326 locus (WNK1) was twice as frequent in HYP versus NT (5.5% vs 2.3%, P