The AGT epistasis pattern proposed a novel role for ZBED9 in regulating blood pressure: Tehran Cardiometabolic genetic study (TCGS)

High blood pressure is widely regarded as the most important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Epistasis analysis may provide additional insight into the genetic basis of hypertension. A nested case-control design was used on 4214 unrelated Tehran Cardiometabolic Genetic Study (TCGS) adults to evaluate 65 SNPs of previously associated genes, including ZBED9, AGT, and TNXB. The integrated effect of each gene was determined using the Sequence-based Kernel Association Test (SKAT). We used model-based multifactor dimension reduction (Mb-MDR) and entropy-based gene-gene interaction (IGENT) methods to determine interaction and epistasis patterns. The integrated effect of each gene has a statistically significant association with blood pressure traits (P-value