REN and essential hypertension: The present study indicates that three common variants of the kidney epithelial sodium channel ENaC occur approximately three times more often in patients with moderate-to-severe essential hypertension compared to normotensive males andWhile direct in vitro studies have failed to demonstrate a gain-of-function for these ENaC variants, their association with an increased urinary potassium loss in relation to existing plasma renin activity suggests that in the long run in vivo they may result in sodium retention, suppression of renin and aldosterone levels and hypertension.