Differential binding of transcription factor E2F-2 to the endothelin-converting enzyme-1b promoter affects blood pressure regulation

The endothelin-converting enzyme (ECE)-1 gene is a candidate for human blood pressure (BP) regulation and we report the identification of the new gene variants T-839G, C-338A, L75F, A677V and C+295T. Transient transfection of the reporter constructs containing the -338A allele showed an increase in promoter activity compared with the wild-type promoter. EMSA revealed the specific binding of E2F-2 to both ECE-1b promoter sequences, with the -338A allele being associated with an increased affinity to E2F-2 compared with -338C. The clinical relevance of this finding was analyzed in 704 hypertensive patients. In untreated hypertensive women, both the -338A and -839G alleles were significantly associated with ambulatory BP values. This study provides the first evidence of a link between the cell-cycle-associated E2F family and BP regulation via a component of the endothelin system.