ASSOCIATION OF A VARIABLE NUMBER OF TANDEM REPEATS IN ENDOTHELIAL NITRIC OXIDE SVNTHASE GENE WITH ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION IN SINGAPOREANS

摘要

Background: Vascular endothelial cells produce nitric oxide (NO), which contribute to the regulation of blood pressure and regional blood flow. Although endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene polymorphisms have been shown to have positive association with coronary artery disease, the linkage between eNOS gene polymorphisms and essential hypertension has been controversial.1'2'3 Aim: To examine eNOS gene polymorphisms in Singaporeans. Methods: A total of 103 individuals with essential hypertension and 104 normotensive control subjects were studied. The specific genotypes for Glu298Asp missense variant in exon 7, variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) in intron 4 (eNOS 4A/B/C), and T~(-786) C in the promoter were isolated using allele specific gene amplification and restriction fragment length polymorphism.