These data suggest that genetic variation at the ACE locus may be associated with some determinants for blood pressure in elderly persons, and imply the involvement of the ACE insertion/deletion polymorphism in the etiology of age-related essential hypertension in the Japanese population.
The present study examined polymorphisms of the ACE gene in patients with essential hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy who were participants in a long-term trial of therapy with an ACE inhibitor.
We found no evidence for linkage between essential hypertension and the genes coding for renin, angiotensinogen, angiotensin-converting enzyme, or kallikrein 1 in the 329 hypertensive individuals of 142 families studied.
Taken together, our data do not support the existence of a sex-specific association between the ACE I/D polymorphism and essential hypertension in the Japanese population.
We conclude that the interaction of the I/D ACE and M235T AGT polymorphic alleles can contribute to essential hypertension, despite the absence of single gene associations with the condition.
In protocol 2, ACE genotypes as well as microalbuminuria and renal hemodynamic parameters were investigated in 75 patients with EH with normal renal function and a strong family history of hypertension.
These data suggest that the I/D polymorphism of the ACE gene is associated with an early onset of hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy in Japanese patients with essential hypertension.
To investigate the contribution of genetic polymorphisms at the ACE gene to the development of diastolic functional abnormalities in 100 patients with essential hypertension.
The response of blood pressure and plasma renin activity (PRA) 1 h after 50 mg captopril administration were evaluated in 82 inpatients with untreated essential hypertension (42 men, 40 women; mean age +/- SD: 52 +/- 13 years; range: 27 to 79 years) in relation to ACE genotypes.
To examine whether the angiotensinogen M235T and angiotensin converting enzyme insertion/deletion (I/D) variants are related to the severity of hypertension in patients with established essential hypertension.
These data suggest that an I/D polymorphism of the angiotensin I-converting enzyme gene is a genetic factor associated with salt sensitivity of blood pressure independently of plasma renin activity in Japanese patients with essential hypertension.
In conclusion, the D allele of the ACE gene is associated with microalbuminuria as well as with retinopathy and left ventricular hypertrophy, and seems to be an independent risk factor for target organ damage in essential hypertension.
Relationship between the angiotensin converting enzyme gene polymorphism and the effects of enalapril on left ventricular hypertrophy and impaired diastolic filling in essential hypertension: M-mode and pulsed Doppler echocardiographic studies.
These results suggest that the ACE gene was not directly responsible for essential hypertension in this particular Japanese population with the same socioeconomic background.
In particular, variants of the angiotensinogen and angiotensin converting enzyme genes have been associated with essential hypertension, myocardial infarction, or left ventricular hypertrophy.
To determine whether the ACE gene may be responsible for essential hypertension in a Japanese population, we also compared the distribution of genotypes and the allele frequency of this polymorphism in our findings of a Japanese population with these features in other countries.