Positive association of ace i/d gene variants with genetic predisposition to diabetes in the Bantu ethnic group of Cameroon

Abstract

Background: Pre-disposition to diabetes is possibly associated with gene polymorphisms
of the renin–angiotensin system (RAS). Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene
is one of the genes of the RAS system whose polymorphisms have been suggested to
be risk factors for type 2 diabetes melitus (T2DM). The involvement of the ACE gene
polymorphism in diabetes show inconsistent results across ethnic groups as revealed
by earlier studies.
Objective: To investigate the association between insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism
of the 287 bp DNA fragment in intron 16 of the ACE gene and genetic pre-disposition
to T2DM.
Design: Case–control study
Setting: Bantu ethnic group of South West Cameroon
Subject: Diabetic subjects (n= 50) and non-diabetic subjects (n=50) of both sexes aged
between 31 and 73 years.
Results: The distribution of three geno-types (II, ID, and DD) was significantly different
between the diabetic and non-diabetic groups (χ2 = 10.3, p = 0.001). Also, frequency of
D allele was higher in the diabetic patients than in the non-diabetic subjects (p= 0.03).
Conclusion: Our data suggest that the D allele of ACE gene polymorphism is associated
with the genetic pre-disposition to develop T2DM.