Molecular approach to assessing the genetic risk of cerebral infarction: deletion polymorphism in the gene encoding angiotensin 1-converting enzyme

Numerous factors have been reported to influence the pathogenesis of stroke. The risks arising from variations in genes between individuals have not been explored. The angiotensin 1-converting enzyme gene is a candidate gene for atherosclerotic related disease. In this work we studied the frequency of the deletion allele D and the polymorphism DD within the gene encoding angiotensin 1-converting enzyme in stroke patients compared with controls to determine if this deletion polymorphism was a potential independent risk factor for stroke. We report a study of 100 patients with cerebral infarction along with 73 normal age and sex matched controls. Personal medical histories associated with high risk factors for stroke were documented. Cholesterol and triglyceride levels for each individual were also measured. Using polymerase chain reaction techniques patients were divided into the three angiotensin 1-converting enzyme genotypes (Deletion D and Insertion I) II, ID and DD. The D/I frequency in patients with stroke (0.57/0.43) was compared with controls (0.48/0.52). This was not statistically different (P > 0.05, chi-squared test). Although strokes did occur at a younger age in those with the DD genotype compared with those with the insertion allele, the results did not approach acceptable levels of significance (II/ID) (P > 0.05, Mann-Whitney U-test). There were no differences between the three genotypes and other well accepted risk factors for stroke.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)