Angiotensin-converting enzyme gene insertion/deletion polymorphisms and the susceptibility to allergic rhinitis

Abstract

Background: Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene I/D polymorphism might be linked to the risk of the allergic rhinitis (AR).

Objective: In the present study, we assessed the association of ACE gene I/D polymorphisms with AR susceptibility using a meta-analysis.

Materials and methods: We carried out a retrieval of studies and included the eligible studies if they met the criteria. After the data extraction, the Stata software was used to analyse the genotype frequencies.

Results: In total, five studies with 561 patients and 603 controls were included. However, the genotype distribution among the control of one study was not consistent with the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. After pooling all studies, the results indicated an association between ACE gene I/D polymorphism and AR risk in the overall analysis (II vs. others: OR=0.70, 95% CI=0.54-0.92, P=0.010; D vs. I: OR=1.29, 95% CI=1.08-1.54, P=0.005). In the further analysis of the East Asians, no association between ACE gene I/D polymorphism and AR risk was observed.

Conclusion: ACE gene I/D polymorphisms were not associated with the risk of AR in East Asians. These results need to be confirmed in the following studies.

Keywords: Allergic rhinitis; Angiotensin-converting enzyme; Meta-analysis; Polymorphism.