ANGIOTENSIN-CONVERTING ENZYME GENE POLYMORPHISM IS NOT RELATED TO ESSENTIAL-HYPERTENSION IN A GREEK POPULATION

Studies in various ethnic groups have shown contradictory evidence on the association of the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/d eletion (I/D) polymorphism with essential hypertension. In addition, m istyping of the insertion allele in heterozygotes has been reported. W e analyzed the ACE genotype of 98 hypertensive and 84 normotensive sub jects of Creek origin. Genomic DNA was extracted from blood samples an d amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR primers were flank ing the polymorphic region in intron 16 of the ACE gene. To avoid mist yping of heterozygotes, samples with the DD genotype were also amplifi ed with primers that detect only the insertion allele. The distributio n of the DD, ID, and II ACE genotypes was 30, 45, and 23 in hypertensi ve patients and 29, 40, and 15 in normotensive subjects, respectively. The estimated frequency of the insertion allele was 0.45 in hypertens ive and 0.42 in normotensive subjects. The difference was not statisti cally significant. The results indicate a lack of association between ACE I/D polymorphism and essential hypertension in this Creek populati on, suggesting that other genes must contribute to the pathogenesis of hypertension.