VARIATION AT THE ANGIOTENSIN-CONVERTING ENZYME GENE AND ANGIOTENSINOGEN GENE LOCI IN RELATION TO BLOOD-PRESSURE

To investigate whether the polymorphisms in the angiotensin-converting enzyme and angiotensinogen genes are associated with hypertension, we carried out a case-control study of 508 hypertensive and 523 control subjects randomly selected from the Social Insurance Institution regis ter. The cohorts were well characterized and matched for age and sex. The insertion/deletion polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzy me gene and the methionine --> threonine variant at position 235 of th e angiotensinogen gene were determined by the polymerase chain reactio n technique. The allele frequencies and genotype distributions of both polymorphisms were similar in hypertensive and control subjects. Syst olic and diastolic pressures adjusted for age, body mass index, and al cohol consumption did not differ significantly between the different g enotypes of the angiotensin-converting enzyme and angiotensinogen gene s. The variation at the angiotensinogen and angiotensin-converting enz yme genes did not have any statistically significant synergistic effec t on blood pressure levels. In conclusion, the polymorphisms in the re nin-angiotensin cascade genes do not confer a significantly increased risk for the development of hypertension in this middle-aged, populati on-based cohort.