Association of WNK1 exon 1 polymorphisms with essential hypertension in Hani and Yi minorities of China

The association of polymorphisms in exon 1 of the WNK1 gene with essential hypertension in the minority groups of Hani and Yi of China was investigated in the case-control study.The sequence of 1257 bp containing the WNK1 gene exon 1 was determined in 1307 individuals（649 essential hypertension subjects and 658 controls）to identify SNPs in Hani and Yi minority groups.Four of eleven previously known SNPs （rs3168640,rs11885,rs11554421 and rs34880640）were identified.The SNP analysis indicated that SNPs rs11885 and rs11554421 were significantly associated with hypertension in both Hani and Yi populations,and rs34880640 was significantly associated with hypertension in Hani but not in Yi population,adjusted for covariates.Haplotype analysis indicated that the haplotype H1 significantly decreased the risk of hypertension in both populations.These results suggested that WNK1 polymorphisms were involved in the predisposition of essential hypertension in Hani and Yi populations and its effects showed a clear population specificity.This finding supported the importance of population specificity in determining the genetic factors associated with diseases and thus disease treatment.

Association Between rs1344706 of ZNF804A and Schizophrenia: A Meta-analysis

Schizophrenia is one of the most serious mental diseases found in humans. Previous studies indicated that the single nucleotide polymorphism（SNP） rs1344706 in the gene ZNF804 A encoding zinc finger protein 804 A was associated with schizophrenia in Caucasian population but not in Chinese Han population. However, current results are conflicting in Asian population. In the present study, a meta-analysis was performed to revisit the association between rs1344706 and the risk of schizophrenia in Asian, Caucasian and other populations. Electronic search of Pub Med database identified 25 case–control studies with available genotype frequencies of rs1344706 for the meta-analysis,involving a total of 15,788 cases and 22,654 controls. A pooled odds ratio（OR） with 95% confidence interval（CI） was used to assess the association. The current meta-analysis showed an association between rs1344706 and schizophrenia in Caucasian populations（P = 0.028, OR = 1.138, 95% CI：1.014–1.278; P = 0.004 for heterogeneity） and Asian populations（P = 0.008, OR = 1.092, 95%CI： 1.023–1.165; P = 0.001 for heterogeneity）, but not in other populations（P = 0.286,OR = 1.209, 95% CI： 0.853–1.714, P = 0.120 for heterogeneity）. Egger’s test（P 〉 0.05） and Begg’s test（P 〉 0.05） are both suggestive of the lack of publication bias for the included studies. Thus, the absence of association in other populations suggests a genetic heterogeneity in the susceptibility of schizophrenia and demonstrates the difficulties in replicating genome-wide association study findings regarding schizophrenia across different ethnic populations. To validate the association between rs1344706 and schizophrenia, further studies with larger participant populations worldwide are needed.