Association of angiotensin converting enzyme gene (I/D) polymorphism with hypertension and type 2 diabetes.

Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the association of insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of the ACE gene in hypertensive and T2DM subjects in Egyptian population.

Background: The deletion (D) allele of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene has been studied in relation to hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with contradictory results which might be due to ethnic and geographical variations.

Methods: A total of 85 subjects participated in this study; hypertension (Group 1); type 2 diabetes mellitus (Group 2) and controls (Group 3). Written informed consent was obtained. for each subject: age, sex, diabetes duration and the drugs used, blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), and lipid profile. Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Results: The frequency of DD genotype was significantly higher in hypertensive (60 %) and diabetic patients (68 %) compared to controls (33.3 %) (p=0.04, p=0.01 respectively). The DD genotype (vs DI and II genotype) in the hypertensive and diabetic groups is associated with increased risk of hypertension and/or diabetes. OR=3.00; 95%, Cl = 0.993-9.067; OR=4.250; 95%, Cl = 1.234-14.63 respectively). The D allele was more frequent in hypertensive (77.5 %) and diabetic patients (82 %) compared to controls (52.4 %) (p=0.004 and 0.002 respectively). The D allele (vs the I allele) is associated with increased risk of hypertension and diabetes OR=3.13, 95%Cl=1.405-6.978; OR= 4.14, 95% CI= 1.615-10.622 respectively).

Conclusion: The DD genotype and the D allele are associated with hypertension and type 2 diabetes in Egyptian patients (Tab. 5, Fig. 1, Ref. 32).