据日本共同社5月16日消息，日本国立国际医疗研究中心研究所（位于东京）等组成的国际研究小组5月16日在英国科学杂志《自然—遗传学》（Nature Genetics）电子版上发表论文称，解析中日韩等约5万东亚人的基因组（genome）后，发现了13处与高血压有关的基因。
该研究所表示，此前已有以欧美人为对象的报告，但以东亚人为对象尚属首次。据悉，本次研究发现的基因有些与欧美人不同，或将有利于发展适应不同人种的新型治疗、预防和诊断方法。
研究小组首先对约2万东亚人的基因组展开调查，发现了约240处可能与高血压有关的基因。然后又对另外的约1万人进行调查，将范围缩小为关联性较强之处。最后，通过对另外的2万余人的分析，最终进行了确认。
研究结果显示共有13处与高血压相关，其中6处为此次首次发现。另外，13处基因中有些还与酒精分解相关。
该研究所基因诊断治疗开发研究部部长加藤规弘表示：“东亚人的基因组具有特殊之处，这可能是为了适应某种环境的结果。”（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Nature Genetics DOI:10.1038/ng.834
Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies common variants associated with blood pressure variation in east Asians
Norihiro Kato; Fumihiko Takeuchi; Yasuharu Tabara; Tanika N Kelly; Min Jin Go; Xueling Sim; Wan Ting Tay; Chien-Hsiun Chen; Yi Zhang; Ken Yamamoto; Tomohiro Katsuya; Mitsuhiro Yokota; Young Jin Kim; Rick Twee Hee Ong; Toru Nabika; Dongfeng Gu; Li-ching Chang; Yoshihiro Kokubo; Wei Huang; Keizo Ohnaka; Yukio Yamori; Eitaro Nakashima; Cashell E Jaquish; Jong-Young Lee; Mark Seielstad; Masato Isono; James E Hixson; Yuan-Tsong Chen; Tetsuro Miki; Xueya Zhou; Takao Sugiyama; Jae-Pil Jeon; Jian Jun Li
We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure in 19,608 subjects of east Asian ancestry from the AGEN-BP consortium followed up with de novo genotyping (n = 10,518) and further replication (n = 20,247) in east Asian samples. We identified genome-wide significant (P < 5 × 10?8) associations with SBP or DBP, which included variants at four new loci (ST7L-CAPZA1, FIGN-GRB14, ENPEP and NPR3) and a newly discovered variant near TBX3. Among the five newly discovered variants, we obtained significant replication in the independent samples for all of these loci except NPR3. We also confirmed seven loci previously identified in populations of European descent. Moreover, at 12q24.13 near ALDH2, we observed strong association signals (P = 7.9 × 10?31 and P = 1.3 × 10?35 for SBP and DBP, respectively) with ethnic specificity. These findings provide new insights into blood pressure regulation and potential targets for intervention.
