The genetics of blood pressure regulation and its target organs from association studies in 342,415 individuals

Georg B. Ehret, Teresa Ferreira, Daniel I. Chasman, Anne U. Jackson, Ellen M. Schmidt, Toby Johnson, Gudmar Thorleifsson, Jian'an Luan, Louise A. Donnelly, Stavroula Kanoni, Ann -Kristin Petersen, Vasyl Pihurl, Rona J. Strawbridge, Dmitry Shungin, Maria F. Hughes, Osorio Meirelles, Marika Kaakinen, Nabila Bouatia-Naji, Kati Kristiansson, Sonia ShahMarcus E. Kleber, Xiuqing Guo, Leo-Pekka Lyytikainen, Cristiano Fava, Nidas Eriksson, Ilja M. Nolte, Patrik K. Magnusson, Elias L. Salfati, Loukianos S. Rallidis, Elizabeth Theusch, Andrew J. P. Smith, Lasse Folkersen, Kate Witkowska, Tune H. Pers, Roby Joehanes, Stuart K. Kim, Lazaros Lataniotis, Rick Jansen, Andrew D. Johnson, Helen Warren, Young Jin Kim, Wei Zhao, Ying Wu, Bamidele O. Tayo, Murielle Bochud, Devin Absher, Linda S. Adair, Najaf Amin, Dan E. Arkingl, Tomas Axelsson, Damian Baldassarre, Beverley Balkau, Stefania Bandinelli, Michael R. Barnes, Ines Barroso, Stephen Bevan, Joshua C. Bis, Gyda Bjornsdottir, Michael Boehnke, Eric Boerwinkle, Lori L. Bonnycastle, Dorret I. Boomsma, Stefan R. Bornstein, Morris J. Brown, Michel Burnier, Claudia P. Cabrera, John C. Chambers, I-Shou Chang, Ching-Yu Cheng, Peter S. Chines, Ren-Hua Chung, Francis S. Collins, John M. Connell, Angela Doring, Jean Dallongeville, John Danesh, Ulf de Faire, Graciela Delgado, Anna F. Dominiczak, Alex S. F. Doney, Fotios Drenos, Sarah Edkins, John D. Eicher, Roberto Elosua, Stefan Enroth, Jeanette Erdmann, Per Eriksson, Tonu Esko, Evangelos Evangelou, Alun Evans, Tove Fai, Martin Farra, Janine F. Felixl, Jean Ferrieres, Luigi Ferrucci, Myriam Fornage, Terrence Forrester, Nora Franceschinil, Oscar H. Franco, Anders Franco-Cereceda, Ross M. Fraser, Santhi K. Ganesh, He Gao, Karl Gertow, Francesco Gianfagna, Bruna Gigante, Franco Giulianini, Anuj Goe, Alison H. Goodall, Mark Goodarzi, Mathias Gorski, Jurgen Grassler, Christopher J. Groves, Vilmundur Gudnason, Ulf Gyllensten, Goran Hallmans, Anna-Liisa Hartikainen, Maija Hassinen, Aki S. Havulinna, Caroline Hayward, Serge Hercberg, Karl-Heinz Herzig, Andrew A. Hicks, Aroon D. Hingorani, Joel N. Hirschhorn, Albert Hofmanl, Jostein Holmen, Oddgeir Lingaas Holmen, Jouke-Jan Hottenga, Phil Howard, Chao A. Hsiung, Steven C. Hunt, M. Arfan Ikram, Thomas Illig, Carlos Iribarren, Richard A. Jensen, Mika Kahonen, Hyun Min Kang, Sekar Kathiresan, Brendan J. Keating, Kay-Tee Khaw, Yun Kyoung Kim, Eric Kim, Mika Kivimaki, Norman Klopp, Genovefa Kolovou, Pirjo Komulainen, Jaspal S. Kooner, Gulum Kosova, Ronald M. Krauss, Diana Kuh, Zoltan Kutalik, Johanna Kuusisto, Kirsti Kvaloy, Timo A. Lakka, Nanette R. Lee, I-Te Lee, Wen-Jane Lee, Daniel Levy, Xiaohui Li, Kae-Woei Liang, Honghuang Lin, Li Lin, Jaana Lindstrom, Stephane Lobbens, Satu Mannisto, Gabriele Muller, Martina Muller-Nurasyid, Francois Mach, Hugh S. Markus, Eirini Marouli, Mark I. McCarthy, Colin A. McKenzie, Pierre Meneton, Cristina Menni, Andres Metspalu, Vladan Mijatovic, Leena Moilanen, May E. Montasser, Andrew D. Morris, Alanna C. Morrison, Antonella Mulas, Ramaiah Nagaraja, Narisu Narisu, Kjell Nikus, Christopher J. O'Donnell, Paul F. O'Reilly, Ken K. Ong, Fred Paccaud, Cameron D. Palmer, Afshin Parsa, Nancy L. Pedersen, Brenda W. Penninx, Markus Perola, Annette Peters, Neil Poulter, Peter P. Pramstaller, Bruce M. Psaty, Thomas Quertermous, Dabeeru C. Rao, Asif Rasheed, N. William Rayner, Frida Renstrom, Rainer Rettig, Kenneth M. Rice, Robert Roberts, Lynda M. Rose, Jacques Rossouw, Nilesh J. Samani, Serena Sanna, Jouko Saramies, Heribert Schunkert, Sylvain Sebert, Wayne H-H Sheu, Young-Ah Shin, Xueling Sim, Johannes H. Smit, Albert V. Smith, Maria X. Sosa, Tim D. Spector, Alena Stancakova, Alice V. Stanton, Kathleen E. Stirrups, Heather M. Stringham, Johan Sundstrom, Amy J. Swift, Ann-Christine Syvanen, E-Shyong Tai, Toshiko Tanaka, Kirill V. Tarasov, Alexander Teumer, Unnur Thorsteinsdottir, Martin D. Tobin, Elena Tremoli, Andre G. Uitterlinden, Matti Uusitupa, Ahmad Vaez, Dhananjay Vaidya, Cornelia M. van Duijn, Erik P. A. van Iperen, Ramachandran S. Vasan, Germaine C. Verwoert, Jarmo Virtamo, Veronique Vitart, Benjamin F. Voight, Peter Vollenweider, Aline Wagner, Louise V. Wain, Nicholas J. Wareham, Hugh Watldns, Alan B. Weder, Harm Jan Westra, Rainford Wilks, Tom Wilsgaard, James F. Wilson, Tien Y. Wong, Tsun-Po Yang, Jie Yao, Loic Yengo, Weihua Zhang, Jing Hua Zhao, Xiaofeng Zhu, Pascal Bovet, Richard S. Cooper, Karen L. Mohlke, Danish Saleheen, Jong-Young Lee, Paul Elliott, Hinco J. Gierman, Cristen J. Willer, Lude Franke, G. Kees Hovingh, Kent D. Taylor, George Dedoussis, Peter Sever, Andrew Wong, Lars Lind, Themistocles L. Assimes, Inger Njolstad, Peter E. H. Schwarz, Claudia Langenberg, Harold Snieder, Mark J. Caulfield, E. Melander, Markku Laakso, Juha Saltevo, Rainer Rauramaa, Jaakko Tuomilehto, Erik Ingelsson, Terho Lehtimaki, Kristian Hveem, Walter Palmas, Winfried Marz, Meena Kumar, Veikko Salomaa, Yii-Der I. Chen, Jerome I. Rotter, Philippe Froguel, Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin, Edward G. Lakatta, Kari Kuulasmaa, Paul W. Franks, Anders Hamsten, H-Erich Wichmann, Colin N. A. Palmer, Kari Stefansson, Paul M. Ridker, Ruth J. F. Loos, Aravinda Chalcravarti, Panos Deloukas, Andrew P. Morris, Christopher Newton-Cheh, Patricia B. Munroe

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Abstract

To dissect the genetic architecture of blood pressure and assess effects on target organ damage, we analyzed 128,272 SNPs from targeted and genome-wide arrays in 201,529 individuals of European ancestry, and genotypes from an additional 140,886 individuals were used for validation. We identified 66 blood pressure–associated loci, of which 17 were new; 15 harbored multiple distinct association signals. The 66 index SNPs were enriched for cis-regulatory elements, particularly in vascular endothelial cells, consistent with a primary role in blood pressure control through modulation of vascular tone across multiple tissues. The 66 index SNPs combined in a risk score showed comparable effects in 64,421 individuals of non-European descent. The 66-SNP blood pressure risk score was significantly associated with target organ damage in multiple tissues but with minor effects in the kidney. Our findings expand current knowledge of blood pressure–related pathways and highlight tissues beyond the classical renal system in blood pressure regulation.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1171-1184
JournalNature Genetics
Volume48
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2016

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