Association between insertion/deletion polymorphism in angio-tension converting enzyme and susceptibility to schizophrenia

Background: the activity of angiotension converting enzyme (ace; omim: 106180) in different brain regions of patients with schizophrenia changed,suggesting a possible involvement of ace in psychiatric disorders. genetic pol-ymorphism of insertion/deletion (i/d; dbsnp rs4646994) in the gene encoding ace has been well defined. methods: the present case-control study was performed on 363 (268 males,95 females) in-patients with schizophre-nia diagnosis,and 363 (268 males,95 females) healthy blood donor controls. the genotypes of i/d ace polymor-phism were determined using pcr method. pcr products were separated and sized by electrophoresis on a 2% aga-rose gel. the insertion allele (i) was detected as a 478 bp band,and the deletion allele (d) was visualized as a 191 bp band. the association between genotypes of the i/d polymorphism and the schizophrenia risk was examined by use of odds ratios (or) and 95% of confidence intervals (cis). results: among females,the ii genotype significantly decreased the risk of schizophrenia compared with the dd genotype (or=0.18,95%ci: 0.04-0.72,p=0.015). there was significant linear trend for the number of the i allele and schizophrenia risk among females (chi2=5.19,p=0.023). there was no significant association between i/d polymor-phism and susceptibility to schizophrenia among male subjects. there was significant interaction between gender and the ii genotype (p=0.031). conclusion: the ii genotype of the i/d polymorphism has a protective effect for schizophrenia among females. © 2015 iran j public health all right reserved.