Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene polymorphism increases the susceptibility of diabetic nephropathy in Western Indian Type 2 diabetic patients

Abstract

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene has been associated with the pathogenesis and progressi on of chronic kidney diseases. Diabetic nephropathy has b ecome leading cause of renal end stage disease (ESRD). An I/D polymorphism of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene has been suggested as one of the risk factors for the progression of diabetic nephropathy. We analyzed th e genotype and allele frequency distribution of ACE g ene in 166 Type 2 diabetic patients without any complicati on (T2DM), 61 with diabetic nephropathy (DN), 50 with non- diabetic nephropathy (NDN) and 50 healthy individ uals from western Indian population. ACE genotype was analyzed by PCR method. The D allele distributio n for the ACE I/D polymorphisms was not significantly different between control group and patients with T2DM without any complication (41.0% vs. 45.2%, P= 0.461) and between control subjects and patients with non-diabetic nep hropathy (NDN) (41.0% vs. 44.0%, P= 0.668). Frequency of the D allele (63.9% vs. 45.2%, P < 0.001) and DD genotype (I allele noncarrier) (44.3% vs. 25.3%, P= 0.006) of ACE gene was significantly higher in patients with diab etic nephropathy (DN) than in patients with T2DM without any complication. Results of the present study in dicate that ACE gene polymorphism does not have significant influ- ence on development of diabetes mellitus and nondia betic nephropathy, whereas, the DD polymorphism in ACE gene has been associated with the development of diabeti c nephropathy in the Western Indian population.