Impact of Angiotensin I Converting Enzyme Insertion/Deletion Polymorphisms on Dilated Cardiomyopathy and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Risk

BACKGROUND Genetic factors in the pathogenesis of cardiomyopathies have received a lot attention during the past two decades. Angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphisms were found to be associated with cardiomyopathies. However, the previous results were inconsistent. The current meta-analysis aims to examine the association of ACE I/D polymorphisms and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). METHODS Eight studies on DCM (1387 controls and 977 patients) and eight studies on HCM (1055 controls and 827 patients) were included in this meta-analysis. RESULTS The overall data showed no significant association between ACE I/D polymorphism and DCM risk. Further subgroup analysis by ethnicity also did not find a significantly increased risk for D allele carriers among East Asians and Europeans. However, the overall analysis suggested that the D allele carriers might be associated with increased risk of HCM (DD/ID vs. II: OR = 1.69, 95% CI 1.04-2.74, P = 0.03). CONCLUSION In summary, the meta-analysis indicated that certain ACE I/D polymorphism might be associated with HCM but not DCM susceptibility. Given the limited sample sizes, further large multicenter case-control investigation is needed.