Background: The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has been implied in the pathogenesis of various diseases including acute and chronic pancreatitis. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) is the key enzyme in activating the RAS. Deletion (D)-type polymorphism in the 16th intron of the ACE gene has been associated with higher serum levels of the enzyme. Inhibition of ACE was found to ameliorate acute pancreatitis in animal models suggesting that ACE plays a role in pathogenesis and progression of acute pancreatitis. Objectives were to investigate the occurrence of the ACE insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism in acute pancreatitis patients and its association with the severity of the disease.
Material and methods: Seventy-nine acute pancreatitis patients and 95 healthy controls were evaluated. Acute pancreatitis cases were grouped as mild or severe according to the Atlanta criteria.
Main outcome measure: The presence of the ACE I/D polymorphism.
Results: ACE gene I and D allele frequency of patients (44% and 56%) were similar to controls (45% and 55%, respectively). There were no significant differences in severity of pancreatitis between patients with the ACE-insertion or ACE-insertion/deletion versus ACE-deletion genotypes.
Conclusions: The ACE gene deletion polymorphism is neither a risk factor for development of acute pancreatitis nor contributes to the severity of disease or development of complications.
Keywords: acute pancreatitis; polymorphism; renin angiotensin system.