E-selectin gene polymorphisms are associated with essential hypertension: a case-control pilot study in a Chinese population

Abstract Background Genetic variation is thought to contribute to the etiology of hypertension, and E-selectin is a candidate essential hypertension-associated gene. This study thus sought to investigate possible genetic associations between the T1880C, C602A and T1559C polymorphisms of E-selectin and essential hypertension. Methods Hypertensive patients (n = 490) and healthy normotensive subjects (n = 495) were screened for the genotypes T1880C, C602A and T1559C using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction after DNA extraction to identify representative variations in the E-selectin gene. The associations between genotypes and alleles of the three mutations and essential hypertension were then analyzed using a case-control study. Results Hypertensive patients and normotensive subjects were significantly different with respect to the genotypes CC, CA and AA (P = 0.005) and the C-allele frequency of C602A (P = 0.001). A comparison of dominant versus recessive models also revealed significant differences between the two groups (P = 0.004 and P = 0.02). When subgrouped by gender, these indexes differed significantly between normotensive and essential hypertensive males, but not in females. The additive model of the T1559C genotype did not differ between essential hypertensive and normotensive groups overall (P = 0.39), but it was different between hypertensive and normotensive males (P = 0.046) and females (P = 0.045). The CC + TC versus TT frequency of T1559C was also different in the recessive model of male hypertensive and normotensive groups (P = 0.02). Further analysis showed that C602A and T1559C were significantly associated with hypertension (C602A: OR = 7.58, 95%CI = 1.53-11.97, P Conclusion C602A and T1559C may be independent risk factors for essential hypertension in the Chinese population, whereas T1880C is not.