Variants in ANP, BNP Genes Associated With Reduced BP

February 16, 2009 (Boston, Massachusetts) — New research has found that common variations in the genes that produce atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) are associated with reduced blood pressure [1].

"This is the first time that it has clearly been shown--in people--that the natriuretic-peptide system is involved in blood-pressure regulation," lead author Dr Christopher Newton-Cheh (Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA) told heartwire. He and his colleagues report their findings online February 15, 2009 in Nature Genetics.

"The fact that the natriuretic-peptide system is causally related to blood-pressure regulation is, I think, the most exciting part of the study," he adds. "Even if these variants have relatively modest influences on blood pressure, that doesn't mean there aren't other things that influence natriuretic peptides that won't have much stronger effects," he notes.

Hypertension expert Dr Franz Messerli (St Luke Roosevelt Hospital, New York, NY), who was not involved with this research, told heartwire that this "is a seminal observation linking genetic variance at the NPPA-NPPB locus with natriuretic peptide concentration and blood pressure in the general population. Although the study is based on random Mendelian assortment of alleles, it is unique in identifying . . . feedback . . .  between the biomarker (ANP) and the clinical trait (blood pressure)."

Consistent Findings Across Multiple, Large Cohorts

Using three different populations, Newton-Cheh et al measured the concentrations of ANP and BNP in the blood of 14 743 people of European ancestry and then genotyped them.

The natriuretic-peptide precursor A (NPPA) and natriuretic-peptide precursor B (NPPB) genes lie close together on chromosome 1, they explain, and so they genotyped a set of 13 common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)--or single-letter DNA changes--that capture the majority of variation at the NPPA-NPPB locus.

Three SNPs were linked to higher ANP and BNP concentrations: rs5068, rs198358, and rs632793. "With that kind of sample size, the statistical evidence to support the association of these three variants with the concentrations of ANP and BNP in the blood is quite strong," explains Newton-Cheh. "Because we tested them in three populations--the Framingham Heart Study, the Malmo Diet and Cancer Study, and Finrisk97--we are utterly convinced that these are related to natriuretic-peptide levels."

Detailed Article : http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/588339?sssdmh=dm1.432287&src=nldne