Pathophysiology and Natural History

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) plays an important role in the aetiology of hypertension, atherosclerosis, cardiovasculardisease and other vascular events. Furthermore, the ET-1gene (EDN1) influences thedevelopmentofessentialhypertension and hypertensive endorgan damage.The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of Endothelin-1Lys198Asn polymorphism in patients with severe arterial hypertension as well as associated endorgan damages. In 400 hypertensive patients and150 normotensive controls we examined the Endothelin-1Lys198Asn polymorphism in respect of the prevalence of endorgan damage. An association between the investigated polymorphism in hypertensives and coronary artery disease was observed. Thus, this polymorphism serves as a possibility to differentiate high risk subgroups in the heterogeneous population of hypertensive patients.