ACE Insertion/Deletion (I/D) Polymorphism in Hypertensive Patients of Palestinian Population

Hypertension is a risk factor for coronary heart disease, stroke, and renal failure; resulting from interaction of several genes with each other and with environmental factors. The renin-angiotensin system(RAS) plays an important role in the regulation of blood pressure. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) is an enzyme of the RAS. ACE ID gene polymorphism has been associated in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. The objective of this work was to determine the frequencies of the ACE gene alleles D and I and any associations to hypertension risk factors in Palestinian population. Genomic DNA was isolated from 293 subjects who have participated in a case–control study. ACE gene ID polymorphism was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction in 193 hypertension cases and 100 healthy controls. The frequency of ACE genotype were: DD 62.2%, II 6.7% and ID 31.1%,while as in control group the DD frequency is 54.0%, II 4. 0% and ID 42.0%. The frequencies of the ACE D and I alleles of the study population were 0.78 and 0.22for case group, 0.75 and 0.25 for control group respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups with respect to genotype distribution. Furthermore, we did not find any significant difference in the frequency of ACE ID polymorphism in hypertension subjects when stratified by gender (p = 0.61).The results showed that there was no significant association between the ACE ID gene polymorphism and hypertension in Gaza strip.