Abstract:
Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a significant comorbidity among hypertensive patients.
Polymorphisms in the non-muscle myosin heavy chain 9 gene (MYH9) have been demonstrated to be significantly
associated with CKD, among African- and European-derived populations. We investigated the spectrum of MYH9-
associated CKD among Ghanaian hypertensive patients.
Methods: The study constituted a total of 264 hypertensive patients. Hypertensive patients with glomerular
filtration rate (eGFR) < 60 ml/min/1.73m2 (CKD-EPI formula) or clinically diagnosed were defined as case subjects
(n = 132) while those with eGFR ≥60 ml/min/1.73m2 were classified as control subjects (n = 132). Demographic data
were obtained with a questionnaire and anthropometric measurements were taken. Five (5) millilitres (ml) of
venous blood was drawn from study subjects into gel and EDTA vacutainer tubes. Two (2) mL of EDTA
anticoagulated blood was used for genomic DNA extraction while three (3) mL of blood was processed to obtain
serum for biochemical measurements. Genotyping of MYH9 polymorphisms (rs3752462) was done employing Tetra
primer Amplification Refractory Mutation System (T-ARMS) polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Spot urine samples
were also collected for urinalysis. Hardy-Weinberg population was assessed. Logistic regression models were used
to assess the associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms and CKD.
Results: The cases and control participants differed in terms of age, sex, family history, and duration of CKD (pvalue < 0.001). The minor allele frequencies of rs3752462 SNP were 0.820 and 0.567 respectively among the control
and case subjects. Patients with the heterozygote genotype of rs3752462 (CT) were more likely to develop CKD
[aOR = 7.82 (3.81–16.04)] whereas those with homozygote recessive variant (TT) were protective [aOR = 0.12 (0.06–
0.25)]. Single nucleotide polymorphism of rs3752462 (CT genotype) was associated with increased proteinuria,
albuminuria, and reduced eGFR.Conclusions: We have demonstrated that MYH9 polymorphisms exist among Ghanaian hypertensive patients and
rs3752462 polymorphism of MYH9 is associated with CKD. This baseline indicates that further longitudinal and
multi-institutional studies in larger cohorts in Ghana are warranted to evaluate MYH9 SNP as an independent
predictor of CKD among hypertensive patients in Ghana.
