Prevalence of genetic polymorphisms of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase C677T and angiotensin I-converting enzyme (insertion/deletion) in Sétif population, Algeria

The aim of the present study was to assess the frequencies of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE; OMIM: 106180) and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR; OMIM: 607093) polymorphisms in the Algerian population to further facilitate investigations on possible associations with various pathologies. The study was carried out on 146 apparently healthy individuals (65 males, 81 females) who were randomly selected from an Algerian population of the Setif region (north-eastern Algeria). Their age ranged from 24 to 48 years. Using polymerase chain reaction based methods, genotypic frequencies of MTHFR C677T (rs. 1801133) and ACE I/D (rs. 1799752) polymorphisms were determined. No significant difference was found between genders regarding the distribution of ACE I/D and MTHFR C677T polymorphisms. In general, the prevalence of the D allele of the ACE polymorphism was 70.5%. The study population was in the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (Chi-Square=0.55, df=1, P=0.758). The allelic frequency of the 677T allele (for MTHFR C677T polymorphism) was 35.3%. The study population was in the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (Chi-Square=1.05, df=1, P=0.304). The surprisingly high incidence of minor alleles of the polymorphisms among our population requires further studies in vascular and other diseases.