Experimental and clinical data have provided evidence that hyperproduction of the vasoconstrictive component ET1, which reduces coronary blood flow even in the absence of detectable vasospasm of large epicardial arteries, plays an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, for which hypertension is an important risk factor, and in ischemic heart disease and stroke, pulmonary hypertension, and vasculitis. This evidence concerns the gene EDN1 and Hypertension.