A Review of the Genetics of Hypertension with a Focus on Gene-Environment Interactions

• Published in: Current hypertension reports Vol. 19; no. 3; p. 23
• Main Authors: Waken, RJ, de las Fuentes, Lisa, Rao, D.C.
• Format: Journal Article Book Review
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-03-2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Blood Pressure - genetics; Cardiology; Epistasis, Genetic; Family Medicine; Gene-Environment Interaction; General Practice; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Genetic Variation; Genome-Wide Association Study; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - genetics; Internal Medicine; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Nephrology; Novel Treatments for Hypertension (T Unger; Phenotype; Primary Care Medicine; Section Editor; Topical Collection on Novel Treatments for Hypertension; Genetics of hypertension; Cardiovascular disease; Phenotypes; Gene-environment
• ISSN: 1522-6417; 1534-3111; 1534-3111
• DOI: 10.1007/s11906-017-0718-1

Purpose of Review
Here, we discuss the interpretation and modeling of gene-environment interactions in hypertension-related phenotypes, with a focus on the necessary assumptions and possible challenges.
Recent Findings
Recently, small cohort studies have discovered several novel genetic variants associated with hypertension-related phenotypes through modeling gene-environment interactions. Several consortia-based meta-analytic efforts have uncovered many novel genetic variants in hypertension without modeling interaction terms, giving promise to future meta-analytic efforts that incorporate gene-environment interactions.
Summary
Heritability studies and genome-wide association studies have established that hypertension, a prevalent cardiovascular disease, has a genetic component that may be modulated by the environment (such as lifestyle factors). This review includes a discussion of known genetic associations for hypertension/blood pressure, including those resulting from the incorporation of gene-environmental interaction modeling.