Objective: To investigate whether G1155942T polymorphism in WNK4 gene is associated with essential hypertension in a population with Kazakhs ethnicity, in Xinjiang.
Methods: This study covered 563 hypertension patients and 346 normotensive controls. The variant of G1155942T was determined by the TaqMan probe real-time PCR method. Some biochemical indices such as glucose (GLU), triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) were also measured. All of these results were under logistic regression analysis. Addictive model was applied to assess the interactive effects between WNK4 gene G1155942T mutation and environmental factors on hypertension.
Results: The G1155942T polymorphism was consistent with Hardy-Weinberg expectations in both case and control groups. Genotype and allele frequencies of G1155942T were observed (P = 0.004, P = 0.003). Data through logistic regression analysis showed that factors as age, BMI, total cholesterol as well as the GT + TT genotype frequencies of Exon 8 G1155942T polymorphism in WNK4 were responsible for the increased risks for hypertension. Positive interactions between G1155942T mutation and gender, BMI, GLU, the OR were 3.75 (95%CI: 1.19 - 11.80), 5.77 (95%CI: 1.93 - 17.21) and 8.67 (95%CI: 1.03 - 72.99), respectively.
Conclusion: Our result suggested that the Exon 8 G1155942T polymorphism in WNK4 gene was associated with hypertension in the studied Kazakhs ethnic group in Xinjiang and the T allele might be the risk factor for essential hypertension. There were interactive effects between WNK4 gene G1155942T mutation, gender, BMI, and GLU.