Apelin polymorphism predicts blood pressure response to losartan in older Chinese women with essential hypertension

We determined whether the blood pressure response to losartan in an older Chinese population with essential hypertension was associated with apelin gene polymorphisms. We genotyped the -1860T>C polymorphism of the apelin gene in a case-control study of 222 patients with hypertension and 250 controls. Following 24 weeks of treatment with losartan (50 mg/day), reductions in systolic blood pressure were significantly different among the additive (CT vs CC vs TT), dominant (TT vs CC/CT), and recessive models (CC vs CT/TT; all P < 0.05) in women but not in men. In the additive model, the TT group showed the greatest reductions in systolic BP (23 ± 10 mmHg) after treatment. The CT group showed greater reductions in systolic BP (21 ± 11 mmHg) compared to the CC group (8 ± 3 mmHg) (P < 0.05). The reductions in systolic BP of the TT and CT/CC groups were 23 ± 10 and 19 ± 10 mmHg, respectively. The reductions in systolic BP of the CC and TT/CT groups were 8 ± 3 and 21 ± 10 mmHg, respectively. After adjustment for confounding factors, quantitative trait analysis with a general linear model showed that the female patients with TT genotype showed greater reductions in systolic blood pressure after 24 weeks of treatment compared to the patients with the C allele (P < 0.05). The apelin -1860T>C genotype may play an important predictive role in the response to losartan in hypertensive women.