TY - JOUR T1 - Angiotensin-converting enzyme gene insertion/deletion polymorphism in Saudi patients with rheumatic heart disease JF - Saudi Medical Journal JO - Saudi Med J SP - 176 LP - 180 DO - 10.15537/smj.2015.2.10267 VL - 36 IS - 2 AU - Khalid M. Al-Harbi AU - Ibrahim S. Almuzaini AU - Mohamed M. Morsy AU - Nada A. Abdelaziz AU - Alia M. Al-Balawi AU - Atiyeh M. Abdallah Y1 - 2015/01/01 UR - http://smj.org.sa/content/36/2/176.abstract N2 - Objectives: To investigate the association between angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in Saudi patients.Methods: A case-control study was conducted in Saudi RHD patients. Genomic DNA was isolated from 99 RHD patients attending the Pediatric Cardiology Clinic at the Maternity and Children Hospital, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia from March 2013 to June 2014, and from 145 age- and gender-matched controls. Patient clinical records were reviewed to report major and minor modified Jones’ criteria for diagnosis. The diagnosis was confirmed by echocardiography. The ACE I/D polymorphism was identified by polymerase chain reaction.Results: A significant difference in ACE D allele carriage (DD+ID) distribution between RHD cases and controls was identified (p=0.02, odds ratio = 3.6, 95% confidence interval: 1.2-10.8). The D allele carriage was significantly associated with development of mitral valve lesions alone (p=0.03).Conclusion: The ACE I/D polymorphism is associated with an increased risk of RHD in the Saudi population. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings and to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying this association. ER -