A Molecular Variant of the Angiotensinogen Gene and Hypertension in a Case-Control Study in Japanese

In order to examine the distribution of M235T (the substitution of threonine for methionine at position 235 codon) polymorphism genotypes of the angiotensinogen (AGT) gene and the relationship between M235T polymorphism of the AGT gene and hypertension, a descriptive study and a case-control study were performed among Japanese workers. The subjects were 2042 workers at an occupational site in Shimane Prefecture in Japan. The database was set up for the workers' regular health examination in 1998. The M235T polymorphism of the AGT gene for each worker was defined by the mutant allele specific amplification (MASA) method. The rates of M235M (MM), M235T (MT) and T235T (TT) genotypes were 3.9%, 30.7% and 65.5%, respectively. The odds ratios of MT and TT against MM for hypertension by univariate analysis were 0.77 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.27-2.18) and 0.77 (95% CI 0.28-2.14), respectively. The odds ratios of MT and TT against MM for hypertension, adjusted for body mass index, fasting blood sugar, drinking habits, cigarette smoking and exercise in a logistic regression model, were 0.90 (95% CI 0.29-2.74) and 0.87 (95% CI 0.30-2.58), respectively. The data from this study suggests that there may be no relationship between the M235T polymorphism of the AGT gene and hypertension. Further prospective studies are needed to resolve this issue.