The RGS2 (-391, C>G) genetic variation correlates to antihypertensive drug responses in Chinese patients with essential hypertension

• Published in: PloS one 2015-04, Vol.10 (4), p.e0121483-e0121483
• Main Authors: He, Fazhong, Luo, Jianquan, Zhang, Zhitao, Luo, Zhiying, Fan, Lan, He, Yijing, Wen, Jiagen, Zhu, Dingilang, Gao, Jinping, Wang, Yan, Qian, Yuesheng, Zhou, Honghao, Chen, Xiaoping, Zhang, Wei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adrenergic receptors; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analysis; Antihypertensive agents; Antihypertensive Agents - administration & dosage; Antihypertensives; Asian Continental Ancestry Group; Biomarkers; Blood pressure; Chemotherapy; China; Data analysis; Drug therapy; Essential Hypertension; Female; Fibroblasts; Gene expression; Genetic diversity; Genetic polymorphisms; Genetic research; Hospitals; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - drug therapy; Hypertension - genetics; Identification methods; Laboratories; Male; Medicine; Middle Aged; Models, Biological; Multivariate analysis; Mutation; Patients; Pharmacology; Polymerase chain reaction; Polymorphism; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; Proteins; Regulators; RGS Proteins - genetics; RNA; Rodents; Studies; Variance analysis
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121483

Regulators of G-protein signaling protein 2 (RGS2) play an irreplaceable role in the control of normal blood pressure (BP). One RGS2 (-391, C>G) genetic variation markedly changes its mRNA expression levels. This study explored the relationship between this genetic variation and the responses to antihypertensive drugs in Chinese patients with essential hypertension. Genetic variations of RGS2 were successfully identified in 367 specimens using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assays. All patients were treated with conventional doses of antihypertensives after a 2-week run-in period and followed-up according to our protocol. A general linear model multivariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for the data analysis. A significant difference in the mean systolic BP change was observed between RGS2 (-391, C>G) CC/CG (n = 82) and GG (n = 38) genotype carriers (-13.6 vs. -19.9 mmHg, P = 0.043) who were treated with candesartan, irbesartan or imidapril at the end of 6 weeks. In addition, the patients' BP responses to α,β-adrenergic receptor blockers exhibited an age-specific association with the RGS2 (-391, C>G) genetic variation at the end of 4 weeks. The RGS2 (-391, C>G) genetic polymorphism may serve as a biomarker to predict a patient's response to antihypertensive drug therapy, but future studies need to confirm this.