Essential arterial hypertension is a disease with distinct yet unexplored inflammatory component. Our aim was to assess
the role of chemokine genes and their interaction in its development. Genotyping of polymorphic markers in six chemokine
genes (CXCL13, CCL8, CCL16, CCL17, CCL18, and CCL23) was performed in the group of 522 men of Tatar ethnic origin
from the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia (213 patients with essential hypertension and 309 healthy individuals without
history of cardiovascular disease). We found a strong association of CXCL13 rs355689*C allele with essential hypertension
under additive (OR 0.56, PFDR=0.008) and dominant (OR 0.41, PFDR 4.38×10−4
) genetic model. The analysis of gene–gene
interactions revealed 12 allele/genotype combinations that remained significantly associated with essential hypertension after
correction for multiple testing was applied, and each of these combinations included CXCL13 rs355689 polymorphism. Our
results indicate that CXCL13 rs355689 polymorphism is strongly associated with essential hypertension in the ethnic group
of Tatars, alone and in combination with polymorphic markers in other chemokine genes.