Angiotensinogen and angiotensin converting enzyme genotypes and carotid atherosclerosis: The atherosclerosis risk in communities and the NHLBI family heart studies

Background: Polymorphisms of the renin-angiotensin system are associated with cardiovascular pathology. Therefore, the association of the insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of the angiotensin converting enzyme ( ACE ) gene and the T235 (methionine to threonine substitution) polymorphism of the angiotensinogen ( AGT ) gene with intima-media thickness of the carotid artery was investigated. Methods and results: Subjects were randomly selected from two centers participating in both the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) and NHLBI Family Heart Studies. Probands were 45–64 years of age who were free of cardiovascular disease and had B-mode ultrasound measured carotid intima-media thickness. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction amplification was used to evaluate the ACE I/D and AGT T235 polymorphisms: genotype information was available on 495 and 475 participants, respectively. The frequencies of the ACE D and AGT T alleles were 0.56 and 0.52, respectively; 30% were homozygous for the ACE D allele, and 29% were homozygous for the AGT T allele. After adjustment for systolic blood pressure, antihypertensive medication use, diabetes, age, sex and LDL cholesterol, the mean intima-media thickness was 0.729, 0.732 and 0.721 mm in the ACE DD, ID, and II genotypes, respectively (partial F test 1.53, P =0.22), and 0.727, 0.732 and 0.724 mm in the AGT MM, MT, and TT genotypes, respectively (partial F test 0.91, P =0.40). Combining the genotypes for ACE and AGT , there were also no differences in intima-media thickness across the eight joint genotypes. Conclusion: We found no evidence that the ACE I/D and AGT T235 polymorphisms of the renin-angiotensin system were associated with carotid intima-media thickness in this population-based sample of middle-aged adults with no history of cardiovascular disease. The lack of an association between these variants and intima-media thickness may indicate that early atherosclerosis is mediated by factors other than these RAS polymorphisms.