ANGIOTENSINOGEN GENE POLYMORPHISM (M235T) IN SUDANESE HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS.

Background and objectives: Essential hypertension is common in the general population by its increasing incidences, thus recently researchers suggested that AGT (M235T) polymorphism may be the functional genotype in hypertensive patients. Therefore the study aimed to evaluate Angiotensinogen (AGT) gene polymorphisms (M235T) as well as its relation to serum level of renin and aldosterone among Sudanese hypertensive patients. Materials and Methods: In a case control study, 96 patients with essential hypertension and 79 healthy apparently controls were enrolled. The clinical data were obtained and serum renin and aldosterone levels were measured using ELISA. The AGT gene polymorphism(M235T) alleles and genotypes were identified by PCR–RFLP analysis. Results: Analysis of allele frequency showed that, MM, MT and TT genotypes of Angiotensinogen (AGT) gene polymorphism (M235T)for patients were 91.7%, 8.3%, and 0% respectively and that for the control group was 96.2%, 3.8%, and 0%. Statistically no significant difference was found (p=0.219).There were significant increase in both serum levels of renin and aldosterone among essential hypertensive patients p-value(0.001and 0.005) respectively. Conclusion: The study concluded that there is no association between the polymorphism (M235T) of the AGT gene and essential hypertension, whereas association observed with serum renin and aldosterone levels.