Angiotensin-I Converting Enzyme Gene Deletion/Insertion Polymorphism and Myocardial Infarction in Taiwan Chinese

Deletion polynnoprhism of ACE gene is an independent risk factor for myocardial infarction in Caucasian and Japanese. We investigate the role of deletion insertion (D/I) polymorphism of angiotensin (ACE) gene in the pathogenesis of myocardial infarction in Chinese population living in Taiwan. A case-control study was carried out to examine the association of the ACE gene genotype and allele frequency on 186 patients with myocardial infarction, compared with 200 healthy. Although the frequencies of both homnzygote deletion (DD) genotype and D allele were greater in myocardial infarction than in controls (20% vs 16%, and 42% vs 39%), the differences were not found to be significant by x^2 analysis (p=0.58 and 0.33, respectively). Upon further comparison of the frequencies of D allele among two different ages and sexes subgroups, there were still no significant associations. In conclusion, deletion polymorphism of ACE gene was found to play a minor role, different from the Caucasian and Japanese, in the pathogenesis of myocardial infarction in Chinese population living in Taiwan.