Human essential hypertension: no significant association of polygenic risk scores with antihypertensive drug responses

Sci Rep. 2020 Jul 20;10(1):11940. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-68878-3.

Abstract

Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for essential hypertension, calculated from > 900 genomic loci, were recently found to explain a significant fraction of hypertension heritability and complications. To investigate whether variation of hypertension PRS also captures variation of antihypertensive drug responsiveness, we calculated two different PRSs for both systolic and diastolic blood pressure: one based on the top 793 independent hypertension-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms and another based on over 1 million genome-wide variants. Using our pharmacogenomic GENRES study comprising four different antihypertensive monotherapies (n ~ 200 for all drugs), we identified a weak, but (after Bonferroni correction) statistically nonsignificant association of higher genome-wide PRSs with weaker response to a diuretic. In addition, we noticed a correlation between high genome-wide PRS and electrocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy. Finally, using data of the Finnish arm of the LIFE study (n = 346), we found that PRSs for systolic blood pressure were slightly higher in patients with drug-resistant hypertension than in those with drug-controlled hypertension (p = 0.03, not significant after Bonferroni correction). In conclusion, our results indicate that patients with elevated hypertension PRSs may be predisposed to difficult-to-control hypertension and complications thereof. No general association between a high PRS and less efficient drug responsiveness was noticed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Antihypertensive Agents / pharmacology
  • Antihypertensive Agents / therapeutic use
  • Biomarkers
  • Blood Pressure / drug effects
  • Drug Resistance
  • Essential Hypertension / drug therapy
  • Essential Hypertension / etiology*
  • Essential Hypertension / pathology
  • Essential Hypertension / physiopathology
  • Female
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease*
  • Humans
  • Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / drug therapy
  • Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / etiology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multifactorial Inheritance*
  • Pharmacogenomic Variants*
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Antihypertensive Agents
  • Biomarkers