Characterization of angiotensin converting enzyme gene polymorphism and risk of different heart diseases

ABSTRACT

The present work aims to test the association of angiotensin converting enzyme [ACE] gene insertion/ deletion [I/D] polymorphism in patients with myocardial infarction [MI]. The study comprised 79 Egyptian cases with MI. Their mean age was 54.4 +/- 9.9 years including 60 [75%] males and 19 [24.1%] females, 23 [29.1%] were smokers, 21 [26.6%] had a positive family history of MI, 25 cases [31.6%] were diabetic, 16 cases [20.3%] were hyperlipidemic. For comparison, 238 healthy subjects of nearly matched age and sex, with no history of any cardiac diseases were taken as a control group. For all subjects, DNA testing for ACE gene I/D polymorphism was done using PCR amplification to detect both D and I alleles followed by a second run PCR specific for the I allele for cases typed as DD in the first run. Cases had higher frequency of DD [29.1%] and ID [62%] than II [8.9%] genotype with a higher frequency of D allele than I allele [64.4% vs 33.6%]. Compared to controls, cases had significantly higher frequency of ID genotype [62% versus 47.5%, P < 0.05]. Cases with low risk factors had a higher frequency of ID genotype compared to controls [66.7% vs 47.5%, P = 0.002]. The same was, also, found in the high risk group but with a lower level of significance [63.6% vs 47.5%, P = 0.041]. ACE gene polymorphism is probably a risk factor for ischemic heart disease among Egyptian cases particularly if integrated with other environmental and genetic risk factors