According to doctors from New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, an increased level of the transforming growth factor B1 (TG-B1) in the blood may explain why African Americans have a greater risk of developing hypertension and kidney disease compared to whites. The study hopes to eventually develop a new class of anti-hypertensive and kidney disease drugs that target the TGF-B1 protein.
 
Results from the study showed TGF-B1 protein was much higher in the African American participants compared with white participants. Hypertensive black individuals had the highest TGF-B1 protein levels of the group studied.

This article originally appeared in the August 2009 issue of Kidney Beginnings: The Electronic Newsletter.