Korean J Pediatr.  2007 Jan;50(1):28-32. 10.3345/kjp.2007.50.1.28.

The relation between angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene polymorphism and neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in Korea

• Kim MY
• Lee JM
• Kim JS
• Kim ER
• Lee HJ
• Yoon SH
• Chung JH

• KMID: 2278743
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3345/kjp.2007.50.1.28

Abstract

PURPOSE: Human angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene shows an insertion/deletion polymorphism in 16 intron, and three genotypes are determined by whether a 287 bp fragment of the DNA is present or not; II, ID and DD genotype. DD genotype has been suggested as a risk factor of chronic nephrotic disease such as IgA nephropathy and diabetic nephropathy, various cardiovascular diseases and several other diseases. ACE activity increases in acute hepatitis, chronic persistent hepatitis, chronic active hepatitis and cirrhosis. On the other hand, patients with fatty livers have normal ACE activity. This study was designed to find out the relation between polymorphsims of the ACE genes and neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in Koreans.
METHODS
The genomic DNA was isolated from 110 full-term Korean neonates who had hyperbilirubinemia with no obvious causes (serum bilirubin?12 mg/dL) and 164 neonates of a control population (serum bilirubin?12 mg/dL). We performed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to see the allele of the ACE gene. Electrophoresis was done in the PCR products in 1.5 percent agarose gel, and then DNA patterns were directly visualized under ethidium bromide staining.
RESULTS
ACE genotypes in the hyperbilirubinemia group are as follows; 26.36 percent for II, 53.64 percent for ID, 20.00 percent for DD, 0.532 for I allele and 0.468 for D allele. These distributions were not significantly different from those in the control group; 24.39 percent for II, 51.83 percent for DI, 23.78 percent for DD, 0.503 for I allele and 0.497 for D allele.
CONCLUSION
In this study, ACE gene polymorphism was detected in the neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and control group. The most frequent genotype was ID. Our results indicate that the ACE gene polymorphism is not associated with the prevalence of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in Koreans.

Keyword

ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) gene; Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia; Polymorphism

MeSH Terms

Alleles
Angiotensins*
Cardiovascular Diseases
Diabetic Nephropathies
DNA
Electrophoresis
Ethidium
Fibrosis
Genotype
Glomerulonephritis, IGA
Hand
Hepatitis
Hepatitis, Chronic
Humans
Hyperbilirubinemia
Hyperbilirubinemia, Neonatal*
Infant, Newborn
Introns
Korea*
Liver
Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A*
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Prevalence
Risk Factors
Sepharose
Angiotensins
DNA
Ethidium
Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A
Sepharose