THE ANGIOTENSIN I-CONVERTING ENZYME (ACE) LOCUS IS STRONGLY ASSOCIATED WITH AGE AND DURATION OF DIABETES IN PATIENTS WITH TYPE-I DIABETES

We have investigated the frequency of the angiotensin I-converting enz yme (ACE) insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism in 249 patients with t ype I diabetes and 162 normal healthy controls. There was no significa nt difference in the frequency of ACE genotypes between those patients with diabetic nephropathy (n = 72) (nephropaths) compared to those wi th no proteinuria after 20 years duration of diabetes (n = 86) (normoa lbuminurics). There was, however, a significant difference in the freq uency of ACE genotypes between the short-duration and longterm normoal buminuric group (chi = 11.5, p = 0.001). Analysis of the ACE genotypes with respect to age and duration of diabetes showed that homozygosity for the insertion (I/I) genotype was significantly decreased with lon ger duration of diabetes (r(2) = 92.7%, p < 0.009). No association was found with age in the normal controls. In conclusion, these results s uggest that the ACE locus may be associated with longevity and surviva l in patients with type I diabetes rather than diabetic nephropathy or microvascular disease per se. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1997.