Positive association of ACE I/D gene polymorphism with genetic predisposition to diabetes in the Semi Bantu ethnic group of Cameroon

Abstract

Predisposition to diabetes is possibly associated with gene polymorphisms of the renin–angiotensin system (RAS). Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene is one of the genes of the RAS system whose polymorphisms have been suggested to be risk factors for type 2 diabetes melitus (T2DM). The involvement of the ACE gene polymorphism in diabetes show inconsistent results across ethnic groups as revealed by earlier studies. In the present case–control study, we investigated the association of insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of the 287 bp DNA fragment in intron 16 of ACE gene with genetic predisposition to diabetes in the Bantu ethnic group of South West Cameroon. The polymorphism was determined in diabetic subjects (n= 50) and non-diabetic subjects (n=50) and the distribution of three genotypes (II, ID, and DD) was significantly different between the diabetic and non-diabetic groups (χ2 = 10.3, p = 0.001). Also, frequency of D allele was higher in the diabetic patients than in the non-diabetic subjects (p= 0.03). Our data suggest that the D allele of ACE gene polymorphism is associated with the genetic predisposition to develop T2DM.

Key words: Angiotensin converting enzyme gene, Insertion/deletion polymorphism, Type 2 diabetes mellitus.