TRANSGENIC ANIMALS WITH HYPERTENSIVE PHENOTYPE

摘要

The present invention relates to non-human, preferably rodent transgenic animals carrying, compared to the wild type sequence, the inactivation, interruption, total and/or partial deletion of at least one allele of a gene encoding an emilin protein, characterized in that said animals are hypertensive, that is they have a significant raise of systemic arterial pressure. Moreover, it is considered part of the invention the use of transgenic animal models to select biologically active molecules useful for the treatment of hypertension and for vascular remodelling and the use of diagnostic and/or prognostic methods according to which a lower or absent expression of an emilin protein is a sufficient indicator of predisposition to develop hypertension or represents a genetic basis of the hypertensive phenotype. Cells isolated from transgenic organisms in order to set up assays for selection of molecules active on the (cardio)vascular system, of antihypertensive drugs, of drugs active in vascular remodelling and/or atherosclerosis are also part of the invention.