Association of angiotensin-converting enzyme gene insertion/deletion polymorphism with allergic contact dermatitis

Abstract

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) plays an important role in the physiological control of blood pressure and inflammation. Insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of the gene for ACE was investigated in relation to cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the possible association between allergic contact dermatitis and insertion/deletion polymorphism of the ACE gene. A total of 90 patients with allergic contact dermatitis and 160 control persons were enrolled in the present study. ACE I/D genotypes were determined by the polymerase chain reaction. Allelic frequencies and genotype distribution of the ACE I/D polymorphism in the patient group were significantly different from control group (ACE II genotype 30.0% versus 17.5%, P = 0.022; ACE I allele 51.7% versus 39.4%, P = 0.008). Our data suggest that the ACE polymorphism could be a risk factor for patients with allergic contact dermatitis.