The link between the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/deletion (I/D) gene polymorphism and the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) developing in the Saudi Arabian population remains controversial. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between the ACE I/D gene polymorphism and the risk of developing T2DM and hypertension (HTN) in Saudi Arabian individuals. A total of 220 individuals consisting of 48 control subjects, 70 T2DM, 48 HTN, and 54 T2DM with HTN patients were recruited. Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction initially and mistyping of the DD genotypes was conducted with an insertion-specific primer. The genotyping frequency for the II, ID and DD polymorphism of the ACE gene was 6.8, 42.6 and 48.6% in T2DM patients, 4.2, 50 and 45.8% in HTN patients, 5.6, 55.5 and 38.9% in T2DM patients with HTN and 58.3, 37.5 and 4.2% in control subjects, respectively. The frequency for the D allele was 70% in T2DM patients, 70.8% in HTN patients and 66.7% in T2DM patients with HTN as compared with 22.9% in the control subjects. The genotype and allele frequency of the ACE gene polymorphism varied significantly (P<0.05) in the patients when compared with the control subjects. The current study demonstrated that the ID/DD genotype and the D allele of the ACE gene I/D polymorphism were strongly associated with the risk of T2DM and HTN developing in a Saudi Arabian population.
Keywords: angiotensin converting enzyme; hypertension; insertion/deletion gene polymorphism; type 2 diabetes mellitus.