Association Between Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Gene Insertion (I)/Deletion (D) Polymorphism and Secondary Arterial Hypertension in a Romanian Children Population

Introduction: Arterial hypertension is defined as systolic or diastolic blood pressure measurements higher than 95 age-gender-height percentile of the adopted reference values. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) is a component of renin-angiotensin system. ACE insertion/deletion (I/D) gene polymorphisms have been associated with the risk of various cardiovascular anomalies. Aim: The purpose of our study was to assess the possible association of ACE I/D polymorphism gene and secondary hypertension in children. Material and method: We genotyped 40 healthy and 38 hypertensive children and adolescents. The ACE I//D gene polymorphism was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism technique utilizing specific primers. We compared the distribution of ACE I/D genotypes in the two study groups. Results: The results of the study showed that the frequency of I/D ACE genotype distribution in patients with hypertension (DD = 18.42%, ID = 68.42%, II = 13.16%) did differ significantly from genotype distribution in controls (DD = 47.5%, ID = 42.5%, II = 10%), and the DD genotype was not associated with secondary hypertension. Conclusion: In conclusion we demonstrate that ACE gene polymorphisms are genetic markers for secondary arterial hypertension in children.