Deletion allele of angiotensin-converting enzyme gene increases risk of essential hypertension in Japanese men: The Suita Study

• Published in: Circulation (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 101; no. 17; pp. 2060 - 2065
• Main Authors: HIGAKI, J, BABA, S, KATSUYA, T, SATO, N, ISHIKAWA, K, MANNAMI, T, OGATA, J, OGIHARA, T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hagerstown, MD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 02.05.2000
• Subjects: Age Factors; Aged; Arterial hypertension. Arterial hypotension; Biological and medical sciences; Blood and lymphatic vessels; Cardiology. Vascular system; Clinical manifestations. Epidemiology. Investigative techniques. Etiology; Female; Genotype; Humans; Hypertension - genetics; Japan; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A - genetics; Polymorphism, Genetic; Random Allocation; Sex Factors; Japan; Human; Hypertension; Enzyme; Pathogenesis; Cardiovascular disease; Genotype; Homozygosity; Genetic determinism; Peptidases; Allele; Phenotype; Gene frequency; Gene; Peptidyl-dipeptidase A; Risk factor; Hydrolases; Peptidyl-dipeptidases; Mutation; Polymorphism
• ISSN: 0009-7322; 1524-4539
• DOI: 10.1161/01.CIR.101.17.2060

The Framingham Study recently revealed that the homozygous deletion polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene (ACE DD) is associated with increased risk for essential hypertension in a male-specific manner. However, this association has not been confirmed in races other than whites. Using a large number of Japanese subjects (n=5014) that were randomly selected from the general population (the Suita Study), we examined the association between ACE DD and hypertension. The frequency of DD (17.1%) in hypertensive men was significantly higher (P<0.0015) than that (11.8%) in other mildly hypertensive or normotensive men, and the estimated odds prevalence for hypertension (DD vs II) was 1.75 (95% CI 1.21 to 2.53). In contrast, no significant association was confirmed in women (OR 1.17, 95% CI 0.79 to 1.72). Despite the lower frequency of the DD genotype in Japanese than in whites, the ACE gene polymorphism was associated with increased risk for hypertension, suggesting that this polymorphism is a mild but certain genetic risk factor for essential hypertension in men.