Association of Angiotensin I Converting Enzyme Polymorphism as a Genetic Risk Factor in Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia and Prostate Cancer

Introduction: Angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) gene insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism is one of the genetic factors found to be related with prostate cancer (PC). We investigated the association between grade and stage of disease, age of diagnosis, vascular or perineural invasion, prediagnostic plasma prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels, and PC risk with I/D polymorphism of the ACE gene. Materials and Methods: We recruited 206 subjects in this study, including 95 patients with PC and 111 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. Results: The odds ratio between II and DD polymorphisms (reference) was 1.38. It means that the presence of the II polymorphism increased the risk of cancer more than 38% compared with the DD polymorphism although still it was not statistically significant. The mean of total PSA in the patients with the II genotype was 20 ng/L more than that in those who had the DD polymorphism. The odds ratio (OR) between the D allele and PC development was 1.16, indicating that this allele increased the risk of cancer about 16%. Conclusion: We found no association between the ACE polymorphism and cancer risk, overall or by grade, stage, or age of diagnosis. The difference in results for ACE polymorphisms between studies may be minimized by using larger study groups.