AFP - US researchers have discovered a variant of a common gene linked to high-blood pressure, paving the way towards possible better treatments of the illness, a study said Monday.
  
The gene, known as STK39, produces a protein which plays a role in helping the kidneys regulate the amount of salt inside a person's body.
  
"This discovery has great potential for enhancing our ability to tailor treatments to the individual -- what we call personalized medicine -- and to more effectively manage patients with hypertension," said senior author Yen-Pei Christy Chang, from the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
  
She stressed the importance of continued research saying "hypertension is a very complex condition, with numerous other genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors involved."
  
"The STK39 gene is only one important piece of the puzzle," she said. "We want to determine how people with different variations of this gene respond to diuretics and other medications, or to lifestyle changes, such as reducing the amount of salt in their diet.
  
"This information might help us discover the most effective way to control an individual patient's blood pressure," she said in the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
  
One in four Americans suffers from high blood pressure, which can cause heart disease, stroke, even kidney disease and led to death.
  
The researchers pinpointed the link between the STK39 gene and blood pressure by analyzing the DNA of 542 members of an Amish community in Pennsylvania.
  
They scanned about 100,000 genetic markers and then confirmed their findings by analyzing genetic data from another group of Amish and four groups of Caucasians in Europe and the United States.
  
Those people with the variant of the gene showed slight increases in blood pressure compared to those with the more common form and were more likely to develop hypertension, the researchers found.
  
The Amish are an ideal group for genetic studies as they are genetically homogenous after their forefathers arrived in America in the mid-1700s, and to this day share a similar diet and rural lifestyle.