An Investigation of Gene Variants in Adenosine Receptors and Changes with Essential Hypertension

Abstract

Alternative splicing is increasingly emerging as a key mechanism that contributes to the transcript and protein complexity observed in human and other species. Alternative splicing frequently occurs in human genes, approximately 70% and generates different protein isoforms in specific tissue types and pathological conditions. A splice variant can form a new isoform of the protein to modify the function. However, it is also possible that the transcripts lack coding capacity and fail to be involved in regulatory activities. Essential hypertension is the most common cardiovascular disease, the prevalence of which is approximately 26% worldwide. Additionally, essential hypertension is considered to be a multifactoral disorder and its aetiology has yet to be clearly identified. It is known whether adenosine receptor subtypes mediating vasodilator responses in vascular tissue vary according to the blood vessel location. However, it is unknown that adenosine receptor splice variants are expressed in cardiovascular tissues and whether the gene expression patterns have a role in the development of hypertension.