Abstract

Objective: An insertion/deletion polymorphism in the Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) gene has been implicated in the pathogenesis of heart disease. The present cross sectional study evaluated the ACE gene I/D polymorphism in an urban worksite cohort.

Method: Fasting blood samples from 132 subjects from a worksite in Mumbai, Western India was analysed for ACE I/D polymorphism by polymerase chain reaction along with biochemical and lipid parameters. Circulating levels of ACE activity was also determined.

Results: Among the study cohort, 33 subjects (25%) had metabolic disorders. The remaining 99 subjects without metabolic disorders could be considered healthy. These subjects had a frequency of 0.36, 0.38 and 0.26 for the I/I, I/D and D/D genotypes, respectively. The genotypic frequency of subjects with metabolic disorders was not different from that of the healthy subjects. Homozygous carriers of the ‘D’ allele exhibited two-fold higher serum ACE activity compared to homozygous carriers of the ‘I’ allele. Serum ACE activity was significantly correlated to serum total cholesterol (r=0.501, p=0.006) and triglyceride (r=0.469, p=0.012) levels in D/D carriers. Contrary to this serum ACE activity was significantly related to fasting plasma glucose levels (r=0.39, p=0.03) in the I/I homozygotes.

Conclusion: In this worksite urban Indian cohort, I/D polymorphism in the ACE gene is associated with established risk factors namely fasting serum cholesterol, triglycerides and plasma glucose levels. While the ACE activity of D/D homozygotes was predictive of total cholesterol and triglyceride levels, the ACE activity of I/I homozygotes was predictive of plasma glucose levels.

Keywords: Angiotensin converting enzyme; Enzyme activity; Polymorphism; Worksite; Serum cholesterol; Plasma glucose; Metabolic disorders