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

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.