Polymorphism in the Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (Ace) Gene and Ace Activity in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

It has recently been shown that an insertion (i)/deletion (d) polymorphism exists in theangiotensin-converting enzyme (ace) gene that can affect the serum ace level. there are threegenotypes: dd, di, and ii, with the ace level being highest in dd, intermediate in di, and lowest in ii.the dd genotype has been reported as a genetic risk factor for diabetes mellitus. in the presentinvestigation, 170 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (t2dm) and 144 control subjects were studied.the ace i/d polymorphism was determined by polymerase chain reaction (pcr) utilizing specificprimers. ace activity was determined spectrophotometrically. distribution of ace gene (i/d)polymorphism and allele frequencies in patients with t2dm were significantly different from those incontrol (p < 0.001); d allele frequency was 51% in t2dm vs. 48% in controls. the level of aceactivity was significantly higher in the dd genotype (91.1 ± 23.18) than those in id (60.6 ± 22.8) andin ii genotypes (36.8 ± 6.9). there was a significant difference in genotype distribution between the twogroups (p < 0.001). new normal ranges of serum ace level were determined for each genotype.moreover, we found test sensitivity to be 62.3%. serum ace activity was significantly associated withace (i/d) gene polymorphism.