Angiotensin-converting enzyme I/D gene polymorphisms and effects of left ventricular hypertrophy in Turkish myocardial infarction patients

Objective - Since the initial report of the association of the deletion/insertion (D/I) polymorphism in the gene for angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) with myocardial infarction (MI), there has been considerable controversy. Some have found the D allele to be associated with MI, coronary heart disease (CHD) or other cardiac pathologies, while others have not. In view of the clinical importance of the ACE as a major marker of cardiovascular diseases, we investigated the I/D polymorphism of the ACE gene in Turkish patients with acute myocardial infarction in comparison with control subjects

Paraoxonase (PON1) 55 and 192 polymorphism and its effects to oxidant-antioxidant system in Turkish patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Paraoxonase (PON1) is a serum enzyme with an antioxidant function, protecting the low density lipoproteins (LDL) from oxidative modifications. Because diabetic patients are at greater risk of oxidative stress, we investigated the effect of PON1 55 methione (M)/leucine (L) and PONI 192 glutamine (A)/arginine (B) polymorphisms on oxidant-antioxidant system in 213 individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 116 non-diabetic control subjects from Turkish population were included in the study. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), and agarose gel electrophoresis techniques were used to determine the PONI genotypes. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), conjugated dienes levels in the serum and glutathione (GSH) levels in whole blood were measured spectrophotometrically. In both groups PONI 192 AA and PONI 55 MM genotypes had higher TBARS, conjugated dienes levels and lower GSH levels, whereas PONI 192 BB and PONI 55 LL genotypes had lower TBARS, conjugated diene levels and higher GSH level than other genotypes. We thus conclude that PON1 192 BB and PON1 55 LL alleles have protective effect against oxidative stress