Blood Pressure and Hypertension Genetics

JI Program: Cardiovascular

Summary

Blood pressure is a heritable and major determinant of cardiovascular disease risk and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in China. The incidence of hypertension is increasing at an alarming rate. Of the trends known to be relevant to cardiovascular diseases, the blood pressure trend is expected to lead to the highest predicted increase in stroke and combined cardiovascular disease in Chinese individuals. This project aims to study the association of common and rare genetic variants with blood pressure and hypertension in a cohort of patients at the Peking University First and Third Hospitals. The relationship of genetic determinants for blood pressure with cardiovascular outcomes and other factors known to predict cardiovascular disease will also be explored. The study teams have collaborated in a consortium-based genetic analysis of longitudinal blood pressure measures identifying three novel genes influencing BP in the population.

Outcomes

  • A mouse null for the CCDC93 gene using CRISPR/Cas 9 methods was generated.
  • 3 PKUHSC faculty members received extensive training at Michigan Medicine mentored by Dr. Santhi Ganesh.

Publications

  1. Ganesh SK, Chasman DI, Larson MG….Zhang Y,... et al. (2014) Effects of long-term averaging of quantitative blood pressure traits on the detection of genetic associations. Am J Hum Genet. 2014; 95(1): 49-65.