Association of WNK1 gene polymorphisms and haplotypes with ambulatory blood pressure in the general population

Blood pressure (BP) is a heritable trait of major public health concern. The WNK1 and WNK4 genes, which encode proteins in the WNK family of serine-threonine kinases, are involved in renal electrolyte homeostasis. Mutations in the WNK1 and WNK4 genes cause a rare monogenic hypertensive syndrome, pseudohypoaldosteronism type II. We investigated whether polymorphisms in these WNK genes influence BP in the general population. Associations between 9 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in WNK1 and 1 in WNK4 with ambulatory BP were studied in a population-based sample of 996 subjects from 250 white European families. The heritability estimates of mean 24-hour systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) were 63.4% and 67.9%, respectively. We found statistically significant (P