[ACE gene polymorphism and cardiovascular diseases].

The angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) is an integral part of enzymatic cascades leading to generation of angiotensin II as well as degradation of bradykinin. For this reason, it represents an important part for the metabolism of 2 vasoactive peptides. Early in this decade, convincing experimental evidence demonstrated the induction of this enzyme in several pathophysiological conditions including myocardial infarction and left ventricular hypertrophy. In parallel, a deletion/insertion (D/I) polymorphism of the human ACE gene was discovered that was related to 14 to 50% of the interindividual variance of serum ACE activity. More recently, this polymorphism was implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of cardiovascular disorders including myocardial infarction, left ventricular hypertrophy, hypertension as well as nephropathy.