Association of a butyrophilin, subfamily 2, member A1 gene polymorphism with hypertension.

The C→T polymorphism (rs6929846) of the butyrophilin, subfamily 2, member A1 (BTN2A1) gene has been previously identified as a susceptibility locus for myocardial infarction by a genome-wide association study. As hypertension is a major risk factor for myocardial infarction, the association between the BTN2A1 polymorphism, rs6929846, and myocardial infarction may be partly due to its effect on hypertension susceptibility. The aim of the present study was to examine the possible association of rs6929846 with hypertension. The study subjects comprised 5,959 community-dwelling individuals (2,183 subjects with hypertension and 3,776 controls) who were recruited to a population-based cohort study. The rs6929846 genotype was determined by a method that combined polymerase chain reaction and sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes with suspension array technology. Comparisons between the genotype distributions (P=0.0090) and allele frequencies (P=0.0051) by the χ2 test revealed that rs6929846 was significantly associated with hypertension. Multivariable logistic regression analysis with adjustment for age, gender, body mass index and smoking status revealed that rs6929846 was significantly associated with hypertension (P=0.0008; odds ratio, 1.29; dominant model), with the minor T allele representing a risk factor for this condition. Among all the individuals, systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure was significantly higher in the combined group of individuals with the CT or TT genotypes compared to the CC genotype group. BTN2A1 may thus be a susceptibility gene for hypertension. Therefore, determining the genotype for this polymorphism may provide genetic risk assessment information for hypertension.