Abstract
Hypertension has become a prominent public health concern. Essential hypertension (EH) is a polygenic disorder caused by multiple susceptibility genes. It has been previously shown that the purinergic P2Y(2) receptor (P2Y(2)R) regulates blood pressure; however, whether P2Y(2)R genetic polymorphisms correlate with EH has not been investigated in Chinese. Our study included 500 EH cases and 504 controls who are Chinese postmenopausal women. We used allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (ASPCR) to genotype five single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) in the P2Y(2)R gene, i.e., rs4944831, rs12366239, rs1783596, rs4382936, and rs10898909. We assessed the association of P2Y(2)R genetic polymorphisms with EH susceptibility. The results demonstrated that P2Y(2)R rs4382936A was correlated with a high risk of EH; particularly, the participants with the rs4382936A allele and CA/AA/(CA+AA) genotypes were at higher risks to EH compared to the subjects with the rs4382936C allele and CC genotype. Moreover, haplotype CAG combined by rs1783596-rs4382936-rs10898909 was a susceptible haplotype for EH, whereas haplotype CCG was a protective haplotype for EH. These results may provide new evidence for applying P2Y(2)R genetic polymorphisms as useful markers in clinic screening or monitoring potential EH cases in a population of Chinese postmenopausal women.