The Association of Angiotensinogen (AGT M235T) Gene Polymorphism and Essential Hypertension in Thai Post-Menopausal Women

Objectives: This study aims to determine the relationship between angiotensinogen (AGT) M235T polymorphism and hypertension among post-menopausal Thai women. Materials and Methods: Case-control study was conducted. The study group was those who had hypertension or previously diagnosed and, the control were those who had no hypertension. Blood samples were taken for AGT M235T allelic characterization using allele specific oligonucleotides (ASO) PCR. Results: Of 255 post-menopausal women, 128 had hypertension, regarded as “hypertension group”, the other 127 without hypertension, regarded as “control group”. The presence of AGT M235T polymorphism was 76.5% for homozygous mutation (73.4% for hypertension group and 79.5% for control group), 21.2% for heterozygous mutation (25.0% for hypertension group and 17.3% for control group, respectively) and 2.4% for homozygous wild-type (1.6% for hypertension group and 3.2% for control group, respectively). Distribution of MM, MT and TT genotypes was not significantly different between both group (p=0.251). Conclusions: Interestingly, overall TT genotype was much higher than that of TM and MM in post-menopausal Thai women. AGT M235T polymorphism was not significantly associated with hypertension, though TT genotype tended to give a small risk. They may not serve as a good genetic marker for essential hypertension among Thai population.