RESUMO
Angiotensin converting enzyme [ACE] plays an important role in cardiovascular regulation. Since the initial report regarding the association of insertion/deletion gene polymorphism and serum concentration of ACE, there have been investigations in different populations with contradicting results. The aim of this study was to assess the association of the ACE polymorphism and serum level in Iranians.The study recruited 88 healthy individuals [70 males and 18 females; mean age: 30.07 yrs.] who were candidates for kidney donation. To investigate the association of ACE serum level and polymorphism, the serum concentration of ACE was measured spectrophotometrically and ACE genotyping was determined by polymerase chain reaction.The genotype distribution of DD, ID and II was 31, 24 and 33 respectively. The mean ACE serum concentration for DD, ID and II genotypes was 50.68, 36.65 and 32.06 IU/L, respectively. There was a significant difference in ACE serum level among the three genotypes [p < 0.05]. While the highest ACE serum concentration was seen in DD group [nearly 1.5 times of that of ID and II genotypes, respectively], it was the lowest in the II group. Our study showed that insertion/deletion polymorphism of ACE gene was strongly associated with plasma ACE levels in the Iranian population