Association of Molecular Variant of the Angiotensinogen Gene and Hypertension

molecular variant of the angiotensinogen gene encoding methionine instead of threonine at position 174 (T174M) has been associated with essential hypertension (HTN) in case-control studies. We examined the relations of the T174M allele with HTN in 1401 subjects (707 men, 694 women) from the Framingham Offspring Study (mean age 50.5, range 25-78 years). Pooled-and sex-specific simple association analyses revealed no relation between hypertension status and presence or absence of T174M. Conditional logistic regression was used to analyze the relations of T174M to HTN in 143 sibships in which at least 1 sibling had HTN. After adjusting for sex and age, presence of T174M was associated with nonsignificant increase in probability of HTN (OR 1.89, 95%, CI 0.83-4.29, P = 0.13). Analysis of 25 affected sibling-pairs with severe HTN suggested an excess sharing of the T174M allele (p = 0.056). Conclusions: In this large noninstitutionalized sample, we did not find an association between the T174M allele and HTN. In subset of 25 sibships with severe HTN, however, genetic linkage between the angiotensinogen locus and severe HTN was suggested.