Report of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Working Group on Epigenetics and Hypertension

The working group concluded that epigenetics research should incorporate multispecies comparisons to benefit from evolutionary insights and perspectives. Studies will require coordination of multidisciplinary teams combining expertise in clinical and basic research, as well as in computational and modeling methods. New insights and hypotheses will be generated through genomic and epidemiological surveys, including leveraging existing clinical and epidemiological cohorts, experimental animal models, and biological materials to test in new experimental and clinical studies. Study designs will need to be based on sufficient statistical power to handle the likely complexity associated with the heterogeneous causes and consequences of epigenetic changes. Phenotyping at a comparable level of rigor, accuracy, and detail as surveys of epigenetic features will be required. Multiple levels of functionality, from cells to the intact organism, should be studied, and the use of several modalities for inducing experimental hypertension in various model systems would help establish general versus context-specific principles. Finally, such endeavors will require the use and continued development of technologies that enable rigorous and quantitative measures of epigenetic and physiological changes. © 2012 American Heart Association, Inc.