Female hypertension links to a blood gene signature
Across 193 GTEx and 1,605 Framingham Heart Study participants over 55, females with uncontrolled high blood pressure showed a distinct, suppressed blood transcriptomic signature.
medRxiv
In human participants over age 55 across two cohorts, researchers identified a blood gene expression signature linked to hypertension in females. The team analyzed multi-tissue RNA-sequencing data from 193 cardiovascular disease-free individuals in the GTEx database and 1,605 participants from the Framingham Heart Study. Females with uncontrolled high blood pressure expressed this signature at lower levels than males did in both cohorts. The underlying genes were enriched for insulin signaling and post-transcriptional modification and were regulated by ten ETS family transcription factors. In females only, lower blood signature expression also tracked with a pro-inflammatory gene profile in the arteries and kidneys.
Why it matters
Hypertension prevalence rises sharply in females after menopause, driving elevated cardiovascular risk in later life. Uncovering female-specific gene networks helps explain how sex differences shape vascular aging.
Caveats
The work is an observational study reported in a preprint and has not yet undergone peer review. Further functional studies are required to determine whether this transcriptomic axis causes high blood pressure.
The paper
Blood transcriptomic signature associated with hypertension in females across two human cohorts
Discovery Institute · Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute
medRxiv · 28 Sep 2026 · Preprint, not peer-reviewed