Segmental Renal Sodium Handling in Relation to the Human SAH Gene

To the Editor: The expression of SAH (spontaneously hypertensive rat-clone A-hypertension–associated) gene is markedly higher in the kidneys of spontaneously hypertensive rats compared with normotensive Wistar-Kyoto control rats.1 In rats, SAH is expressed mainly in proximal renal tubules.2 The human SAH gene is located on chromosome 16p13.11 and is also expressed in the kidney.3 A large number of previous studies suggested association of the human SAH gene with hypertension and related metabolic phenotypes, such as obesity, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertriglyceridemia. However, we recently analyzed blood pressure, measures of obesity, serum lipids, and blood glucose as continuous phenotypes in 2603 relatives from 560 families and 31 unrelated subjects randomly recruited from 6 populations in the framework of the European Project on Genes in Hypertension. …