Association of NPR3 polymorphism with risk of essential hypertension in a Chinese population

New Genetic Polymorphisms as Epidemiological Factor of Arterial Hypertension in Patients with Hyposodical Diet

Hypertension is a major public health problem, affecting more than a quarter of the world's population that causes serious cardiovascular problems. In recent years, different polymorphisms have been studied and helped to identify some candidate genes and hereditary syndromes associated to the molecular mechanisms involved in the development of hypertension. Therefore, it is important to identify these molecular mechanisms. This review exposes all the genes and polymorphisms that increase or decrease the risk of hypertension in different populations that are related to the renin angiotensin aldosterone system, G protein, salt excretion, aldosterone synthesis, lipid metabolism, mechanism of insulin resistance, vitamin metabolism, purines and sodium reabsorption. This document can be a useful tool in clinical practice, in addition to serving as a support for future research on this topic.

Breakpoint delineation in 5p- patients leads to new insights about microcephaly and the typical high-pitched cry

Background

Cri du chat syndrome (CdCS) is a rare syndrome caused by a partial or complete deletion of the short arm of chromosome 5 (5p‐). The main clinical features include a high‐pitched cry, facial asymmetry, microcephaly, round face at birth, epicanthal folds, hypotonia, delayed growth and development.

Methods

We studied 14 Brazilian patients with CdCS using genomic array in order to better define the 5p breakpoints and recognize copy number variations (CNVs) that contribute to clinical manifestations associated with the syndrome.

Results

Array confirmed terminal deletions in 13 patients and an interstitial deletion in one patient. It was also possible to map the breakpoints and associate a genomic region of 4.7 Mb to the development of head circumference and cat‐like cry. We also found other CNVs concomitant to the 5p deletion including a 9p duplication, a 17q deletion, and a 22q deletion in three different patients.

Conclusion

With advancements of molecular cytogenomic methods in the last two decades, it was possible to evidence cryptic alterations and improve the genotype–phenotype correlation. In this work, we describe a new genomic region associated with microcephaly and cat‐like cry and highlight the importance of precise delineation of 5p deletion breakpoints and detection of other CNVs in CdCS patients to improve genotype–phenotype correlation to perform a complete clinical and molecular diagnosis.