Relation between the angiotensin-converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphism and blood pressure in Japanese male subjects

Abstract

Inconsistent results have been reported regarding the association of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism and hypertension. Recent studies of population-based samples of three different areas in Japan presented conflicting results regarding this association. We, thus, investigated the relation between the ACE I/D polymorphism and blood pressure (BP), or the frequency of hypertension, respectively, in 706 Japanese male subjects who participated in the health check-up programme of our hospital. The ACE I/D polymorphism was determined by the polymerase chain reaction technique. Of 706 subjects, 203 were found to have hypertension and the other 503 were found to be normotensive. In all subjects, the frequencies of the DD, ID, and II genotypes were 0.123, 0.432, and 0.445, respectively, and the allelic frequency of the D allele was 0.339. In the younger subjects aged o50 years (n ¼ 264), neither systolic nor diastolic BP differed significantly among the genotypes. Conversely, in the older subjects agedX50 years (n ¼ 442), the systolic BP was significantly higher by 5.9 mmHg in the subjects with the ID genotype than those with the II genotype (Po0.01), and the diastolic BP was significantly higher in the subjects with the DD and ID genotypes by 5.1 and 3.3 mmHg, respectively than those with the II genotype (Po0.05 for each), although age, BMI, percentage of smoking habits, drinking habits, or the use of antihypertensive drugs did not differ significantly among the genotypes. In addition, in the older subjects, the hypertensive subjects showed significantly higher frequencies of the DD and ID genotypes and the D allele than the normotensive subjects. These results demonstrated that there was no significant association of the ACE I/D polymorphism with BP or a prevalence of hypertension in younger Japanese men aged o50 years but there was in older Japanese men aged X50 years.

Five polymorphisms in gene candidates for cardiovascular disease in Afro‐Brazilian individuals

“…The association between ACE Ins/ Del polymorphism and hypertension found in older men in our study was also previously demonstrated in Japanese men (52). The results from these studies suggest that gender, age, and ethnic origin contribute to differences in the association of ACE Ins/Del polymorphism with hypertension and blood pressure variations.…”

Angiotensin-converting Enzyme, Sleep-disordered Breathing, and Hypertension

“…smokers versus nonsmokers (24), and male versus female (8,9,14,18,19,25) have been reported; failure to account for these interactions may explain, in part, the conflicting findings.…”

Is there a gender difference between ACE gene and race distance?

“…Although some researchers have found an association between hypertension and the ACE D allele in men but not in women (Higaki et al 2000;Kimura et al 1997;O'Donnell et al 1998;Todoroki et al 2003), such a gender-specific association has not been verified in other studies (Tamaki et al 2002;Matsubara et al 2002;Sugiyama et al 1999). Although Myerson et al (1999) reported no gender effect on the association between the ACE genotype and endurance performance, a detailed examination of gender specificity between ACE I/D and physical performance has not yet been performed.…”

“…As with the association between ACE I/D and hypertension, we hypothesized that there exists a gender difference between ACE I/D polymorphism and race distance (Higaki et al 2000;Kimura et al 1997;O'Donnell et al 1998;Todoroki et al 2003), and used multinomial regression analysis for race distance by using ACE genotype and gender as independent variables.…”