Objectives: We evaluated the prevalences of ACE/ID, AGT/M235T, AT1R/A1166C, and CYP11B2/C344T genetic polymorphisms and their association with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in Uzbek hypertensive men.
Study design: The study included 172 Uzbek men (mean age 47±10 years) with untreated essential hypertension (EH) of grade 1-2 and 60 normotensive subjects (mean age 41±10 years). All subjects underwent complete M-mode echocardiography to determine left ventricular mass (LVM) and LVM index (LVMI). Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood and was analyzed using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assays.
Results: Left ventricular hypertrophy was detected in 148 hypertensive patients (86.1%). The frequencies of the D-allele of the ACE gene and T-allele of the CYP11B2 gene were higher among hypertensive patients than in the controls. There was a significant association between the AGT/M235T polymorphism and LVH. The 235T-allele of the AGT gene, the D-allele of the ACE gene, and the 344T-allele of the CYP11B2 gene were identified as "damaging" alleles. All the patients had "damaging" alleles, the number being one in only seven patients (4.1%), two in 52 patients (30.2%), and three in 89 patients (51.7%). The severity of LVH significantly increased with the number of "damaging" alleles. Among paired carriage of "damaging" alleles, the combination of the D+235T-alleles was found as the most unfavorable pair associated with the degree of LVH.
Conclusion: There is an association between EH and ACE/ID and CYP11B2/C344T gene polymorphisms in Uzbek males, with higher frequencies of the D-allele of the ACE gene and T-allele of the CYP11B2 gene. Our findings provide evidence for the association of AGT/M235T polymorphism with LVH in Uzbek males, combination of the D+235T-alleles being the most unfavorable pair associated with LVH.