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Endothelial nitric oxide synthase genetic variation and essential hypertension risk in Han Chinese: the Fangshan study

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 23, pages 136–139 (2009)Cite this article

Of the candidate genes thought to be logical for an individual's hypertension susceptibility, endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase gene (protein: eNOS and gene: eNOS ) ranks high. Evidence is mounting suggesting that enhanced production or bioavailability of the enzyme eNOS that synthesizes NO in endothelial cells may lead to the constitutive release of NO, which exerts vasoprotective effects in blood pressure (BP) regulation. 1, 2

The eNOS spans 21 kb with 26 exons on chromosome 7q35–36. The candidacy for eNOS in the development of hypertension has a strong biological basis. Knockout mice deficient in eNOS had hypertension as adults.2 In contrast, induction of eNOS cDNA in mice reduced BP.3 As the genomic sequence of eNOS is highly polymorphic, it is of added interest to these findings to confirm which variant(s) at eNOS might have a functional potential to affect the final bioavailability of eNOS, and thus the development of hypertension. Genetic association studies regarding the relationship between eNOS variants and hypertension, however, have yielded inconsistent results.4, 5, 6 Apparent inconsistency generally reflects a lack of statistical power because of a small sample size. To address this issue, we focused on a large Han Chinese population to explore the possible association of the three most widely studied eNOS variants (T−786C, 4a/b and G894T), both individually and as haplotypes, with essential hypertension.

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Author notes

  1. W-Q Niu and Y Qi: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Institute of Hypertension, Shanghai, China

    W-Q Niu

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Peking Union Medical College, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China

    Y Qi & C-C Qiu

  3. Department of Medical Laboratory, Taizhou University School of Medicine, Taizhou, Zhejiang, China

    L-T Zhang & Y-X Qi

  4. Department of Physiology, Qiqihar Medical College, Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, China

    B Wang

  5. The First Hospital of Fangshan District in Beijing, Beijing, China

    S-Q Hou & X-Y Zhai

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  1. W-Q Niu
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  2. Y Qi
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Correspondence to W-Q Niu or B Wang.

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Niu, WQ., Qi, Y., Zhang, LT. et al. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase genetic variation and essential hypertension risk in Han Chinese: the Fangshan study. J Hum Hypertens 23, 136–139 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2008.111

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