EMORY RESEARCHERS PRESENT FINDINGS AT HYPERTENSION IN BLACKS MEETING

September 22, 1997

Media Contacts: Kathi Ovnic, 404/727-9371 - covnic@emory.edu
http://www.emory.edu/WHSC/

Zafar Israli, Ph.D and Dallas Hall, M.D., Emory University School of Medicine, presented their research findings at the 12th International Interdisciplinary Conference on Hypertension in Blacks held in London, England in July. The conference was designed to provide medical researchers a forum to exchange new approaches in the prevention and treatmentof hypertension.

Israli presented, "Insertion/Deletion Polymorphism of the Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) Gene and Microalbuminauria in African Americans," and Hall presented "African American Study of Kidney Disease and Hypertension Baseline Clinical and Demographic Characteristics of the Randomized Participants."

Dr. Israli's presentation reported on how the frequency of the deletion allele in intron 16 of the angiotensin converting enzyme gene is higher in African Americans with hypertension compared to those with normal blood pressure. ACE gene frequencies of African American study participants were determined by the polymerase chain reaction. These frequencies were found to be different in the hypertensive patients as compared to normotensive subjects. However, microalbuminuria, a marker of early kidney damage, was less prevalent in those patients who were homozygous for the deletion allele (DD) compared to those who were either heterozygous (deletion/insertion) or homozygous for the insertion allele. These preliminary data suggest that the ACE genotype homozygosity for the deletion allele does not confer additional risk of microalbuminuria in African American patients with hypertension.

Dr. Hall evidenced how he used three different drug regimens and two different levels of blood pressure control on the progression of renal disease in nondiabetic, hypertensive African American men and women with presumed nephrosclerosis and reduced glomerular filtration rates. He summarizes that the characteristics of the study participants randomized to date include inadequately controlled blood pressure prior to initiation of the study interventions.

For more general information on The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center, call Health Sciences News and Information at 404-727-5686, or send e-mail to hsnews@emory.edu.