Deletion polymorphism in the gene for angiotensin-converting enzyme is not a risk factor predisposing to abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Abstract

to establish whether deletion of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene is a risk factor predisposing to abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) or not. the study included 125 patients with AAA and 153 controls randomly selected from 328 individuals. The control subjects were confirmed not to have an AAA, but matched with the AAA group for age, sex, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidaemia. The presence of ACE polymorphism was detected by a polymerase chain reaction using DNA extracted from blood. the distribution of ACE genotypes and allele frequencies in the control and AAA groups was not significantly different. the deletion polymorphism in the ACE gene is not a risk factor for AAA.