Association between variation at CYP17A1 locus and steroid phenotype: a novel mechanism in essential hypertension?

High blood pressure (BP) is a common and extremely important public health problem; it is known that high blood pressure is a direct cause of many cases of heart attack and stroke. Steroid hormones are known to play a role in regulating BP and, in excess, can cause high BP and cardiovascular disease. Two recent large genetic studies (>60000 subjects) have shown a link between high BP and an important gene in steroid hormone production. We want to explore this further in a small group of normal subjects and explore whether there is any link between variation in this gene and the pattern of steroid hormones produced by these subjects. If we could show such a link then this could identify a new mechanism contributing to high BP as well as a potential target for new drugs to lower BP.