Effect of angiotensin converting enzyme gene studies in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease subjects

Abstract

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes. ACE gene is the key to involve with transforming Angiotensin-I to the potent vasoconstrictor of angiotensin-II, well-known for the association with all the above-mentioned diseases. Limited studies have been documented with NAFLD and ACE gene I/D polymorphism in the global studies, and there are no studies that have been documented in the Saudi population. The aim of the current study was to investigate the genetic association between angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene, insertion (I)-deletion (D) polymorphisms in NAFLD in the Saudi population. NAFLD is a clinic pathological syndrome produced due to the environment, genetic, and metabolic stress-correlated factors, which are demonstrated clinically as fat accumulation in hepatocytes. This is a hospitalbased case-control study implemented in 95 NAFLD cases and 78 non-NAFLD subjects. Genomic DNA was extracted in all the subjects to perform the PCR with ACE gene I/D polymorphism, and the current study results revealed the negative association between the NAFLD cases and controls in the Saudi population (DD vs II; OR-0.17: 95% CI (0.04-0.64), p=0.04, DD+ID vs II: OR-0.19; 95% CI (0.05-0.70), p=0.006 and D vs I; OR-0.34: 95%CI (0.21-0.57), p=0.003. In conclusion, this study confirms NAFLD has no genetic role in the Saudi population with ACE gene I/D polymorphism analysis.