THE ASSOCIATION OF ACE GENE INSERTION/DELETION POLYMORPHISM WITH SERUM ACE LEVEL AND HYPERTENSION IN THE ELDERLY

Objective To investigate angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism in patients with hypertension in the elderly and it's relation with serum ACE level among Chinese population.Methods Polymorphism of ACE gene was categorized into three genotype:two deletion alleles (genotype DD),heterozygous alleles (genotype ID),and two insertion alleles (genotype II).Polymerase chain reaction(PCR) was used to examine ACE gene polymorphism.Compared the distribution of three ACE genotypes frequencies and D allele frequency in 56 patients with hypertension in the elderly and 40 healthy subjects,whose serum ACE levels were measured.Results The frequency of D allele was higher in the hypertension group (0.61) than in healthy subjects (0.46) (P0.05).A significant difference in serum ACE level was observed between the hypertensives and healthy (31.0±11.1) U/L and (25.1±10.0) U/L respectively,P0.05.The highest level of serum ACE activity was in genotype DD,and the lowest level in genotype II,and intermediate in genotype ID.A significant difference in serum ACE level was observed among the genotype DD and ID,and among the genotype DD and II.Conclusion ACE gene I/D polymorphism was associated with serum ACE level.D allele might be a genetic risk factor for hypertension in the elderly.