Association of Chromosome 12 locus with antihypertensive response to hydrochlorothiazide may involve differential YEATS4 expression

A recent genome-wide analysis discovered an association between a haplotype (from rs317689/rs315135/rs7297610) on Chromosome 12q15 and blood pressure response to hydrochlorothiazide in African-Americans. Our aim was to replicate this association and investigate possible functional mechanisms. We observed similar associations between this haplotype and hydrochlorothiazide response in an independent sample of 746 Caucasians and African-Americans randomized to hydrochlorothiazide or atenolol treatment. The haplotype association was driven by variation at rs7297610, where C/C genotypes were associated with greater mean (systolic: 3.4mmHg, P=0.0275; diastolic: 2.5mmHg, P=0.0196) responses to hydrochlorothiazide vs. T-allele carriers. Such an association was absent in atenolol-treated participants, supporting this as hydrochlorothiazide-specific. Expression analyses in hydrochlorothiazide-treated African-Americans showed differential leukocyte YEATS4 expression between rs7297610 genotype groups at baseline (P=0.024), and reduced expression in C/C genotypes (P=0.009), but not in T-carriers. Our data confirm previous genome-wide findings at 12q15 and suggest differential YEATS4 expression could underpin rs7297610-associated HCTZ response variability, which may have future implications for guiding thiazide treatment.