Hypertension places a major burden on individual and public health, but the genetic basis of this complex disorder is poorly understood. We conducted a genome-wide association study of systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) in Amish subjects and found strong association signals with common variants in a serine/threonine kinase gene, STK39. We confirmed this association in an independent Amish and 4 non-Amish Caucasian samples including the Diabetes Genetics Initiative, Framingham Heart Study, GenNet, and Hutterites (meta-analysis combining all studies: n ‫؍‬ 7,125, P < 10 ؊6 ). The higher BP-associated alleles have frequencies > 0.09 and were associated with increases of 3.3/1.3 mm Hg in SBP/DBP, respectively, in the Amish subjects and with smaller but consistent effects across the non-Amish studies. Cellbased functional studies showed that STK39 interacts with WNK kinases and cation-chloride cotransporters, mutations in which cause monogenic forms of BP dysregulation. We demonstrate that in vivo, STK39 is expressed in the distal nephron, where it may interact with these proteins. Although none of the associated SNPs alter protein structure, we identified and experimentally confirmed a highly conserved intronic element with allele-specific in vitro transcription activity as a functional candidate for this association. Thus, variants in STK39 may influence BP by increasing STK39 expression and consequently altering renal Na ؉ excretion, thus unifying rare and common BP-regulating alleles in the same physiological pathway.blood pressure ͉ essential hypertension ͉ genome-wide association study ͉ SPAK ͉ STK39

Macrophages can be activated and regulated by high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), a highly conserved nuclear protein.Inflammatory functions of HMGB1 are mediated by binding to cell surface receptors, including the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), Toll-like receptor (TLR)2, TLR4, and TLR9. Pyroptosis is a caspase-1-dependent programmed cell death, which features rapid plasma membrane rupture, DNA fragmentation, and release of proinflammatory intracellular contents. Pyroptosis can be triggered by various stimuli, however, the mechanism underlying pyroptosis remains unclear. In this study, we identify a novel pathway of HMGB1-induced macrophage pyroptosis. We demonstrate that HMGB1, acting through RAGE and dynamin-dependent signaling, initiates HMGB1endocytosis, which in turn induces cell pyroptosis. The endocytosis of HMGB1 triggers a cascade of molecular events, including cathepsin B release from ruptured lysosomes followed by pyroptosome formation and caspase-1 activation. We further confirm that HMGB1-induced macrophage pyroptosis also occurs in vivo during endotoxemia, suggesting a pathophysiological significance for this form of pyroptosis in the development of inflammation. These findings shed light on the regulatory role of ligand-receptor internalization in directing cell fate, which may have an important role in the progress of inflammation following infection and injury.

Hemorrhagic shock (HS) due to major trauma and surgery predisposes the host to the development of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) including acute lung injury (ALI) through activating and exaggerating the innate immune response. IL-1β is a crucial pro-inflammatory cytokine that contributes to the development of SIRS and ALI. Lung endothelial cells (EC) are one important source of IL-1β, and the production of active IL-1β is controlled by the inflammasome. In this study, we addressed the mechanism underlying HS activation of the inflammasome in lung EC. We show that high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) acting through TLR4, and a synergistic collaboration with TLR2 and RAGE signaling, mediates HS-induced activation of EC NAD(P)H oxidase. In turn, reactive oxygen species (ROS) derived from NAD(P)H oxidase promote the association of thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) with the Nod-like receptor protein NLRP3 and subsequently induce inflammasome activation and IL-1β secretion from the EC. We also show that neutrophil-derived ROS play a role in enhancing EC NAD(P)H oxidase activation, and therefore an amplified inflammasome activation in response to HS. The present study explores a novel mechanism underlying HS activation of EC inflammasome and, thus, presents a potential therapeutic target for SIRS and ALI induced after HS.

OBJECTIVE-We sought to identify type 2 diabetes susceptibility genes through a genome-wide association scan (GWAS) in the Amish.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS-DNA from 124 type 2 diabetic case subjects and 295 control subjects with normal glucose tolerance were genotyped on the Affymetrix 100K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. A total of 82,485 SNPs were tested for association with type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetesassociated SNPs were further prioritized by the following: 1) associations with 5 oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) traits in 427 nondiabetic Amish subjects, and 2) in silico replication from three independent 100L SNP GWASs (Framingham Heart Study Caucasians, Pima Indians, and Mexican Americans) and a 500K GWAS in Scandinavians. RESULTS-The strongest association (P ϭ 1.07 ϫ 10 Ϫ5 ) was for rs2237457, which is located in growth factor receptor-bound protein 10 (Grb10), an adaptor protein that regulate insulin receptor signaling. rs2237457 was also strongly associated with OGTT glucose area under the curve in nondiabetic subjects (P ϭ 0.001). Of the 1,093 SNPs associated with type 2 diabetes at P Ͻ 0.01, 67 SNPs demonstrated associations with at least one OGTT trait in nondiabetic individuals; 80 SNPs were nominally associated with type 2 diabetes in one of the three independent 100K GWASs, 3 SNPs (rs2540317 in MFSD9, rs10515353 on chromosome 5, and rs2242400 in BCAT1 were associated with type 2 diabetes in more than one population), and 11 SNPs were nominally associated with type 2 diabetes in Scandinavians.One type 2 diabetes-associated SNP (rs3845971, located in FHIT) showed replication with OGTT traits and also in another population. CONCLUSIONS-Our

Abstract-The cerebrovascular remodeling is a prominent feature of hypertension and considered a major risk factor for stroke. Cerebrovascular smooth muscle cells meet volume challenge during this pathophysiological process. Our previous studies suggest that volume regulated chloride channels may be critical to the cell cycle of vascular smooth muscle cells. However, it is unknown whether the volume-regulated chloride movement is altered in hypertension. Therefore, we directly measured the concentration of intracellular chloride ([Cl Ϫ ] i ) in rat basilar arterial smooth muscle cells isolated from control rats and rats that were made hypertensive for 1 to 12 weeks after partial renal artery constriction (2-kidney, 2-clip method) using a 6-methoxy-N-ethylquinolinium iodide fluorescence probe.

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High-salt-induced inflammation and oxidative stress in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) contribute to the pathogenesis of salt-sensitive hypertension. In this study, we hypothesized that chronic inhibition of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activity in the PVN delays the progression of hypertension by upregulating anti-inflammatory cytokines, reducing NLRP3 (NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3) and IL-1β and attenuating p-IKKβ, NF-κB p65 activity and NAD(P)H oxidase in the PVN of salt-sensitive hypertensive rats. Dahl salt-sensitive rats received a high-salt diet (HS, 8 % NaCl) or a normal-salt diet (NS, 0.3 % NaCl) for 6 weeks and were treated with bilateral PVN infusion with either vehicle or pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC, 5 μg/h), a NF-κB inhibitor via osmotic minipump. The mean arterial pressure and plasma levels of norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (EPI) were significantly increased in high-salt-fed rats. In addition, rats with high-salt diet had higher levels of p-IKKβ, NF-κB p65 activity, Fra-like (Fra-LI) activity (an indicator of chronic neuronal activation), NOX-4 (subunits of NAD(P)H oxidase), NLRP3 and IL-1β, and lower levels of IL-10 in the PVN than normal diet rats. Bilateral PVN infusions of PDTC attenuated these high-salt-induced changes. These findings suggest that high-salt-induced NF-κB activation in the PVN caused hypertension via sympathoexcitation, which are associated with the increases of NLRP3, IL-1β and oxidative stress in the PVN; PVN inhibition of NF-κB activity attenuates NLRP3, IL-1β and oxidative stress in the PVN and thereby attenuates hypertension.