The writing on the arterial wall: epigenetic control of blood pressure and vascular remodeling.

Hypertension is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, with pathologic consequences on multiple end-organ systems. Smooth muscle plasticity and its epigenetic regulation promote disease pathogenesis, but the genetic levers that control such activity are incompletely defined. In this issue of the JCI, Mangum et al. utilized high-density genomic data to define the causal and pathogenic role of a variant at the JMJD3 locus - one that is associated with systolic blood pressure and governs an allele-specific molecular mechanism controlling smooth muscle behavior in hypertension. These findings have clinical implications relevant to patient risk stratification and personalized therapeutics.