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Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: OBJECTIVE, METHODS, RESULTS. Meshes: Adult, Aged, Case-Control Studies, Comorbidity, DNA Mutational Analysis, Europe, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, France, Gene Frequency, Genetic Markers, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Testing, Genotype, Humans, Hypertension, Pulmonary, Kidney Diseases, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Renin, Scleroderma, Systemic.
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Does angiotensin-converting enzyme gene contribute to genetic susceptibility to systemic sclerosis in European Caucasians? Context: To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) polymorphisms including I/D and 2 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) affect susceptibility to systemic sclerosis (SSc) in a large French Caucasian population. A case-control study was performed in 494 patients with SSc and 280 healthy controls for I/D polymorphism. Two supplementary exonic SNP of ACE gene (rs4309, rs4362) were genotyped in 659 patients with SSc and 511 matched healthy controls. Among the whole SSc population, 453 (67%) patients with SSc had the limited cutaneous subtype, 47 (7%) had precapillary pulmonary arterial hypertension, 209 (32%) had digital ulcers, and 10 (1.5%) had renal crisis. A combined analysis of the available results for ACE I/D genotypes in Caucasians was also performed. There was no association between the 3 polymorphic markers and SSc for allelic and genotype frequencies. No association was observed for the different vascular subsets of the disease. Haplotype analyses did not detect any association. The lack of association for ACE I/D was confirmed by the combined analysis.
assistant
These results in a large cohort of European Caucasian patients with SSc do not support that the ACE gene is implicated in the pathogenesis of SSc and its vascular damage. Final Decision: no