Association between CORIN methylation and hypertension in Chinese adults

BACKGROUND: Corin, a physical activator of atrial natriuretic peptide, has been associated with hypertension with unclear mechanisms. Here, we aimed to examine whether CORIN gene methylation was involved in the underlying molecular mechanisms. METHODS: DNA methylation levels of CORIN were measured by target bisulfite sequencing using genomic DNA isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells in 2498 participants in the Gusu cohort (discovery sample) and 1771 independent participants (replication sample). We constructed a mediation model with DNA methylation as the predictor, serum corin as the mediator, and hypertension as the outcome, adjusting for covariates. Multiple testing was controlled by false discovery rate (FDR) approach. RESULTS: Of the 9 CpGs assayed, hypermethylation at all CpGs were significantly associated with a lower level of blood pressure in the discovery sample and eight associations were also significant in the replication sample (all FDR-adjusted p<0.05). Serum corin mediated approximately 3.07% (p=0.004), 6.25% (p=0.002) and 10.11% (p=0.034) of the associations of hypermethylation at one CpG (Chr4:47840096) with systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and hypertension, respectively. All these mediations passed the causal inference test. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that hypermethylation in the CORIN gene is associated with a lower odds of prevalent hypertension and may be involved in the role of corin in blood pressure regulation.