Angiotensin-converting Enzyme Insertion/Deletion Polymorphism (rs4646994) and Susceptibility to Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Case–control Study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) stimulates the proliferation of bone marrow hematopoietic progenitors and thought to be involved in pathological neoplastic hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis. AIM: This study aimed to investigate the association between ACE gene I/D polymorphism and the risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 96 subjects were recruited for the study, 48 patients with ALL, and 48 apparently healthy volunteers as a control group. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral leukocytes and ACE I/D polymorphism was analysed using allele-specific polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: In both study groups, the ACE D/D polymorphic genotype was the most frequent (52.1% and 54.2%, respectively), followed by the ID genotype (47.9% and 45.8% respectively), while the II genotype was completely absent in both study groups. The distribution of the polymorphic genotypes among the study groups was not significantly different (p = 0. 0.398). The frequency of the D allele was 0.76 in the patients and 0.77 in the control group, while the frequency of I allele was 0.24 in the patients and 0.23 in the control group. No deviation from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium was observed (χ2 = 4.24, df = 1, p = 0.12). CONCLUSION: ACE I/D polymorphism is not associated with susceptibility to ALL among the Sudanese population.