Influences of angiotensin I-converting enzyme gene insertion/deletion polymorphism on prostate cancer risk in Romania

The contribution of genetic variants to prostate cancer risk has been documented. Mutations in ACE (angiotensin I-converting enzyme) gene are found to be related with prostate cancer. The purpose of the present study was to characterize ACE genotypes in prostate cancer cases and to investigate any association between I/D polymorphisms of ACE gene and clinical characteristics in a group of Romanian patients. A total of 46 healthy men and 46 male patients diagnosed with prostate cancer were included in the study. ACE I/D polymorphisms were determined by polymerase chain reaction methodology. The highest genotype frequencies found within the prostate cancer group were detected for DD genotype (55.6%) with a significant difference in the allele frequencies (p = 0.006), compared to the control group, where no significant differences were observed (p > 0.05). The DD genotype was statistically significant associated with the advanced tumor stage and Gleason score higher than 8. Our data suggest that the ACE gene polymorphism can be associated with the evolution of prostate cancer disease, more precisely that DD genotype represented a risk factor for prostate cancer.