title: Genetic variation of the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene: increased frequency of the insertion allele in Koreans.
abstract: In view of the clinical importance of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) as a major marker for cardiovascular diseases, we investigated insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of the ACE gene in Koreans. Genotype frequencies were examined by polymerase chain reaction in 171 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and 120 healthy subjects. Allele frequencies of ACE polymorphism in Koreans were not significantly different between patient and control groups. In addition, association between ACE genotypes and the number of stenosed coronary arteries was not detected. ACE genotypes in the CAD group were not associated with body mass index and plasma lipid levels. Thus, our results suggest that, at least in Koreans, I/D polymorphism of the gene is unlikely to be a useful marker for CAD subjects. However, the I allele frequency of Koreans (0.58) was higher than that of Caucasian populations (0.47) but lower than that of Samoan (0.91) and Yanomami (0.85) populations. Here, we discuss the clinical and ethnic importance of ACE polymorphism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Seoul National University, Korea.
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: B Y
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: J Q
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D005787:Gene Frequency; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006720:Homozygote; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D008875:Middle Aged; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
chemical_list: D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D008055:Lipids; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A