BACKGROUND: Glutathione S-transferases play a key role in the detoxification of
persistent oxidative stress products which are one of several risks factors that
may be associated with many types of disease processes such as cancer, diabetes,
and hypertension. In the present study, we characterize the null genotypes of
GSTM1 and GSTT1 in order to investigate the association between them and the
risk of developing essential hypertension.
METHODS: We conducted a case-control study in Burkina Faso, including 245
subjects with essential hypertension as case and 269 control subjects with
normal blood pressure. Presence of the GSTT1 and GSTM1 was determined using
conventional multiplex polymerase chain reaction followed by gel electrophoresis
analysis. Biochemical parameters were measured using chemistry analyzer
CYANExpert 130.
RESULTS: Chi-squared test shows that GSTT1-null (OR = 1.82; p = 0.001) and
GSTM1-active/GSTT1-null genotypes (OR = 2.33; p  0.05).
Multinomial logistic regression revealed that age ≥ 50 years, central obesity,
family history of hypertension, obesity, alcohol intake and GSTT1 deletion were
in decreasing order independent risk factors for essential hypertension.
Analysis by gender, BMI and alcohol showed that association of GSTT1-null with
risk of essential hypertension seems to be significant when BMI 

Burkina Faso; Essential hypertension; GSTM1; GSTT1; Null genotypes.