Insertion/deletion polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene in normalcy and among diabetics with vascular complications

Frequencies of the angiotensin I-converting enzyme gene alleles and genotypes (insertion/deletion polymorphism) were determined among unrelated Muscovites without signs of diabetes mellitus or angiopathies (control group) and in groups of diabetic patients without and with micro- and macrovascular complications (diabetic nephropathy, myocardial infarction). The proportion of the insert-carrying allele and the homozygosity in this allele were found to be decreased among postinfarction patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and among those with insulin-dependent (type I) diabetes and clinical proteinuria (nephropathy). In the Russian population, such I/D polymorphism was supposed to be an independent genetic marker of the predisposition (or resistance) to micro- and macroangiopathies in both types of diabetes, the protective effect being more pronounced than the predisposing one.