ASSOCIATION OF A POLYMORPHISM OF THE ANGIOTENSIN I-CONVERTING ENZYME GENE WITH ESSENTIAL-HYPERTENSION

Angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) is responsible for production of angiotensin II and breakdown of kinins, leading to increased blood pressure (BP). Furthermore, ACE inhibitors are effective anti-hypertensive agents. A 287 bp insertion/deletion polymorphism in intron 16 of the ACE gene (ACE) was examined by PCR in a cross-sectional study of 80 hypertensive (HT) and 93 normotensive (NT) subjects whose parents had a similar BP status at age ≥50. The frequency of the insertion allele was 0.56 in HTs and 0.41 in NTs, and the difference between observed alleles in all subjects in each group was significant (χ2 = 7.6, P<0.01). The data thus provide evidence in favour of an association of HT with a polymorphism at the ACE locus (17q23), so implicating this locus, and possibly a genetic variant of ACE itself, in human essential hypertension. © 1992.