Analysis of polymorphisms of angiotensin converting enzyme and regulator of G protein signaling 2 gene in hypertensive and normotensive individuals

Aim: Hypertension is an important public health problem, and it is a major risk factor of morbidity and mortality. Hypertension is classified in two groups as primary (essential) hypertension and secondary hypertension, according its etiology. Secondary hypertension is less common and the reason can be identified. The main reason of essential hypertension is unknown. The aim of this study is clarifying the genetic etiology of hypertension via investigating relationship between hypertension and ACE I/D gene polymorphism and RGS2 gene polymorphisms. Materials and Methods: 106 individuals were included in this study. Fifty-three of them had essential hypertension and the others (53) were normotensive. ACE I/D gene polymorphism was genotyped by ARMS method while RGS2 gene polymorphisms were genotyped by cycle sequencing method. Results: In this study, we found that hypertension was associated with family history, alcohol intake and body mass index (p<0.05). However there is no significant relationship between ACE I/D polymorphism with body mass index and hypertension (p>0.05). We identified two novel polymorphisms in addition to eight known common polymorphisms. We couldn?t find any significant relations between hypertension and RGS2 gene polymorphisms (p>0.05). Conclusion: We found that hypertension was not associated with polymorphisms of ACE I/D and RGS2 gene. We identified two novel polymorphisms at 5? upstream region of RGS2 gene, which has not been reported before. This is a preliminary study and further studies for genetic analyzing in a large group patient will contribute to literature by determining and assessment of the effects on gene expressions. Keywords: Angiotensin Converting Enzyme, Essential Hypertension, I/D polymorphism, Regulator of G protein Signaling 2.