Behçet's disease is a chronic systemic inflammatory disorder characterized by four major manifestations: recurrent ocular symptoms, oral and genital ulcers and skin lesions. We conducted a genome-wide association study in a Japanese cohort including 612 individuals with Behçet's disease and 740 unaffected individuals (controls). We identified two suggestive associations on chromosomes 1p31.3 (IL23R-IL12RB2, rs12119179, P = 2.7 x 10(-8)) and 1q32.1 (IL10, rs1554286, P = 8.0 x 10(-8)). A meta-analysis of these two loci with results from additional Turkish and Korean cohorts showed genome-wide significant associations (rs1495965 in IL23R-IL12RB2, P = 1.9 x 10(-11), odds ratio = 1.35; rs1800871 in IL10, P = 1.0 x 10(-14), odds ratio = 1.45).

Abstract-We reported previously that ATP2B1 was one of the genes for hypertension receptivity in a large-scale Japanese population, which has been replicated recently in Europeans and Koreans. ATP2B1 encodes the plasma membrane calcium ATPase isoform 1, which plays a critical role in intracellular calcium homeostasis. In addition, it is suggested that ATP2B1 plays a major role in vascular smooth muscle contraction. Because the ATP2B1 knockout (KO) mouse is embryo-lethal, we generated mice with vascular smooth muscle cell-specific KO of ATP2B1 using the Cre-loxP system to clarify the relationship between ATP2B1 and hypertension. The KO mice expressed significantly lower levels of ATP2B1 mRNA and protein in the aorta compared with control mice. KO mice showed significantly higher systolic blood pressure as measured by tail-cuff method and radiotelemetric method. Similar to ATP2B1, the expression of the Na 1 In the Millennium Genome Project 2 we identified single nucleotide polymorphisms located upstream or within the ATP2B1 gene as strong susceptible polymorphisms for hypertension in Japanese. Some of these findings have been replicated in individuals of European descent in the Global Blood Pressure Genetics sample and have also been validated in other studies in individuals of European descent, 3 Koreans, 4-6 and Japanese. 7 The single nucleotide polymorphisms of ATP2B1 identified in these studies showed a significant association with hypertension in various large-scale study populations with different methods, genome-wide association study in the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology Consortium and the Korean study and candidate gene analysis in our previous study. However, the functional roles of ATP2B1 in blood pressure control have not yet been proven in vivo. The ATP2B1-null mutant mouse has been reported to be embryolethal 8 ; thus, we need to make a conditional knockout (KO) mouse model of ATP2B1 using the Cre-loxP system to reveal the function of the gene. Because the ATP2B1 gene encodes one of the calcium pumps and plays an important role in contraction of bladder smooth muscle, 9 we selected vascular smooth

Background. The presence of silent brain infarction (SBI) increases the risk of symptomatic stroke and dementia. The association between SBI and chronic kidney disease (CKD) has not been clarified. Moreover, little is known about what factors are related to SBI in CKD patients and whether the prevalence of SBI differs in CKD stage or cause of CKD.Methods. This is a cross-sectional study. A total of 375 subjects—335 with CKD and 40 with essential hypertension—were included. All subjects underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain to detect SBI. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was estimated using Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation, and cardiovascular risk factors were examined.Results. The prevalence of SBI was 56.5% in all subjects. Among causes of CKD, hypertensive nephrosclerosis had a strong association with SBI. According to the estimated GFR (eGFR) stage, the more severe the stage of eGFR, the higher the prevalence of SBI (age-adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval] for eGFR 30–59, 15–29 and <15 versus ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m2: 1.34 [0.68–1.99], 1.94 [1.30–2.57] and 2.51 [1.91–3.10]). In multivariate logistic analysis, eGFR was related to SBI independently, in addition to age and blood pressure (P = 0.025). However, other traditional and non-traditional risk factors were not.Conclusion. There was an independent association between eGFR and SBI. CKD patients should receive active detection of SBI and more intensive preventive management, especially for hypertension, should be needed in CKD patients to prevent SBI.

BackgroundMetabolic disorders with visceral obesity have become a major medical problem associated with the development of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and dyslipidemia and, ultimately, life‐threatening cardiovascular and renal diseases. Adipose tissue dysfunction has been proposed as the cause of visceral obesity‐related metabolic disorders, moving the tissue toward a proinflammatory phenotype.Methods and ResultsHere we first report that adipose tissues from patients and mice with metabolic disorders exhibit decreased expression of ATRAP/Agtrap, which is a specific binding modulator of the angiotensin II type 1 receptor, despite its abundant expression in adipose tissues from normal human and control mice. Subsequently, to examine a functional role of ATRAP in the pathophysiology of metabolic disorders, we produced homozygous ATRAP deficient (Agtrap−/−) mice, which exhibited largely normal physiological phenotype at baseline. Under dietary high fat loading, Agtrap−/− mice displayed systemic metabolic dysfunction, characterized by an increased accumulation of pad fat, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance, along with adipose tissue inflammation. Conversely, subcutaneous transplantation of donor fat pads overexpressing ATRAP derived from Agtrap transgenic mice to Agtrap−/− recipient mice improved the systemic metabolic dysfunction.ConclusionsThese results demonstrate that Agtrap−/− mice are an effective model of metabolic disorders with visceral obesity and constitute evidence that ATRAP plays a protective role against insulin resistance, suggesting a new therapeutic target in metabolic disorders. Identification of ATRAP as a novel receptor binding modulator of adipose tissue inflammation not only has cardiovascular significance but may have generalized implication in the regulation of tissue function.

These results suggest that decreased ATP2B1 gene expression is associated with impaired endothelial NOS activity and nitric oxide production, and the ATP2B1 gene plays a crucial role in the regulation of blood pressure.