Objective: To investigate the possible associations of angiotensin converting enzyme insertion or deletion genotypes and alleles with the risk of preeclampsia in Arab women.
Methods: The case-control study was conducted from January 2016 to December 2017 at King Abdulaziz University Hospital and Maternity & Children Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and comprised pregnant women withpreeclampsia as cases and normal pregnant women as controls. Deoxyribonucleic acid was extracted and angiotensin-converting enzyme gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction analysis and characterised through gel electrophoresis.
Results: Of the 162 women, 68(42%) were cases and 94(58%) controls. The mean values of age, body mass index, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure were significantly different among the cases than the controls (p<0.05), but mean gestational age did not significantly differ between the groups (p>0.05). The distribution of the polymorphic variants of the angiotensin converting enz yme gene insertion/deletion was not significantly different between the groups (p>0.05). Also, genotype distribution and allelic frequencies were not significantly different between the groups (p>0.05).
Conclusions: For insertion/deletion polymorphism, no significant differences were detected in the genotype and allele frequencies or any of the inheritance models between preeclampsia patients and controls.
Keywords: ACE gene, Preeclampsia, Genetic risk marker, Polymorphism, Pregnant women.