ANALYSIS OF ANGIOTENSIN CONVERTING ENZYME (ACE) GENE INSERTION/DELETION(I/D)POLYMORPHISM IN MIGRAINE

Migraine is a neurovascular disorder with a prevalence of around 12%, the women being more frequently affected than men. Some studies have shown that migraine may have a major genetic component. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), a key part of the renin-angiotensin system, is expressed in vascular endothelial cells and can regulate blood pressure by mediating potent vasoconstrictors and dilators. This makes angiotensin converting enzyme a plausible candidate gene for involvement in migraine pathophysiology. We aimed to study the relationship between the ACE gene and migraine pathophysiology in the study. In this study, we studied the frequency of the angiotensin converting enzyme insertion/deletion (I/D) gene polymorphisms genotypes and allelic variants in 200 patients with migraine and 199 healthy non-migrainous controls using a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). In patient groups DD genotype frequency was 35.0%, ID genotype frequency was 45.5% and II genotype frequency 19.5% (0.322). Allelic frequencies was detected 57.75% for D allele, 42.25% for I allele in patients. There were no significant differences in genotype/allele frequencies of angiotensin converting enzyme gene polymorphism between patients with migraine and controls (p=0.474). Our results show that I/D polymorphism of angiotensin converting enzyme gene is not a risk factor for migraine.