Vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and plasma renin activity in essential hypertensive individuals

Abstract

Several studies analyzed 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) and blood pressure (BP) relationship with mixed results. Moreover, a relationship between the risk of hypertension and vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms, FokI and BsmI, was reported. This study was aimed to analyze these relationships in essential hypertensive (EH) patients. Seventy-one EH patients, 18-75 years old, were enrolled. Patients underwent clinical BP, 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring, 25[OH]D and plasma renin activity (PRA) evaluations. FokI and BsmI VDR polymorphisms were analyzed and compared with those of 72 healthy controls. In EH patients, the median 25[OH]D levels were lower than 30 ng ml(-1). We found a significant negative correlation between 25[OH]D and 24-h systolic BP (r = -0.277, P = 0.043). This correlation persisted in backward stepwise multivariate analyses (β = -0.337; P = 0.022), after adjustment for age, gender, body mass index, glomerular filtration rate, and PRA. We did not observe statistically significant correlation between 25[OH]D and PRA. We compared the allelic frequencies and genotype distribution between patients and controls, and FokI and BsmI VDR polymorphisms were not associated either with hypertensive status or with PRA. Further wide studies are needed to clarify this relationship.

The Association Between FokI Vitamin D Receptor Polymorphisms With Metabolic Syndrome Among Pregnant Arab Women

“…Both studies attributed elevated blood pressure or hypertension to enhanced production of renin and angiotensin II due to the effect of FF homozygotes. Cottone et al (33) explored hypertensive Italian participants and did not detect a significant link between the FokI VDR polymorphism and blood pressure or between blood pressure and serum 25(OH)D levels. Future research may demonstrate a strong link between FokI VDR polymorphisms and maternal hypertension.…”

“…Many studies have uncovered a link between the VDR gene polymorphism and dyslipidemia, supporting this relationship (18,19,33,34). Schuch et al (2) found, for example, that participants who did not suffer from MetS and carried the mutant homozygous genotype (ff) exhibited significantly higher TG levels and lower HDL levels when compared to study participants who possessed the heterozygous (Ff) or normal homozygous (FF) genotypes.…”

“…Cottone et al. ( 33 ) explored hypertensive Italian participants and did not detect a significant link between the FokI VDR polymorphism and blood pressure or between blood pressure and serum 25(OH)D levels. Future research may demonstrate a strong link between FokI VDR polymorphisms and maternal hypertension.…”

Influence of Polymorphism of Vitamin D Receptor (Fok I) on Hypertension

“…Cottone and coauthors [29] conducted a study in 71 patients with essential hypertension and 72 control subjects, of both sexes, aged 18-75 years, in Italy. The frequencies of FF, Ff, and ff genotypes in hypertensive patients were 50.7%, 42.3%, and 7.0%, respectively, and in control subjects were 40.3%, 50.0%, and 9.7%, respectively.…”

New Insights on Low Vitamin D Plasma Concentration as a Potential Cardiovascular Risk Factor.

“…A study on an Indian cohort also found important associations between hypertension and Fok I VDR polymorphism [rs2228570], which generates long and short variants of the VDR, independent of sex, family history and smoking [126,127]. However, allelic frequencies and genotype distribution of FokI and BsmI VDR polymorphisms were not found associated with hypertensive status or renin activity in a small study on Italian individuals with essential hypertension [128]. A recent meta-analysis reported that polymorphism in the 24-hydroxylase (CYP24A1) gene, which controls vitamin D metabolism, were the most significantly associated with systolic and diastolic blood pressure [129].…”