Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology, China-Japan Union Hospital, Norman Bethune College of Medicine, Jilin University, China.
Int J Med Sci. 2011 Feb 27;8(2):168-79. doi: 10.7150/ijms.8.168.
The polygenic nature of essential hypertension and its dependence on environmental factors pose a challenge for biomedical research. We hypothesized that the analysis of gene expression profiles from peripheral blood cells would distinguish patients with hypertension from normotensives. In order to test this, total RNA from peripheral blood cells was isolated. RNA was reversed-transcribed and labeled and gene expression analyzed using significance Analysis Microarrays (Stanford University, CA, USA). Briefly, Significance Analysis Microarrays (SAM) thresholding identified 31 up-regulated and 18 down-regulated genes with fold changes of ≥2 or ≤0.5 and q-value≤5% in expression. Statistically significantly gene ontology (GO) function and biological process differentially expressed in essential hypertension were MHC class II receptor activity and immune response respectively. Biological pathway analysis identified several related pathways which are associated with immune/inflammatory responses. Quantitative Real-Time RT-PCR results were consistent with the microarray results. The levels of C-reactive protein were higher in hypertensive patients than normotensives and inflammation-related genes were increased as well. In conclusion, genes enriched for "immune/inflammatory responses" may be associated with essential hypertension. In addition, there is a correlation between systemic inflammation and hypertension. It is anticipated that these findings may provide accurate and efficient strategies for prevention, diagnosis and control of this disorder.
原发性高血压的多基因性质及其对环境因素的依赖性给生物医学研究带来了挑战。我们假设，外周血单个核细胞基因表达谱的分析将能够区分高血压患者和血压正常者。为了验证这一点，我们从外周血单个核细胞中分离总 RNA。使用斯坦福大学（加利福尼亚州）的意义分析微阵列（Significance Analysis Microarrays，SAM）对 RNA 进行逆转录和标记，并进行基因表达分析。简而言之，SAM 阈值识别出 31 个上调基因和 18 个下调基因，其表达倍数变化≥2 或≤0.5，q 值≤5%。原发性高血压中差异表达的具有统计学意义的基因本体（GO）功能和生物过程分别为 MHC Ⅱ类受体活性和免疫反应。生物途径分析确定了几个与免疫/炎症反应相关的途径。定量实时 RT-PCR 结果与微阵列结果一致。高血压患者的 C 反应蛋白水平高于血压正常者，炎症相关基因也增加。总之，富含“免疫/炎症反应”的基因可能与原发性高血压有关。此外，系统性炎症与高血压之间存在相关性。预计这些发现可能为该疾病的预防、诊断和控制提供准确、有效的策略。
