The angiotensin-converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphism of vitiligo in a population in upper Egypt: a hospital-based study

Background Vitiligo is an acquired depigmentary disorder resulting from the loss of functional melanocytes and melanin from the skin. The causes of the nonfunctional effects on melanocytes remain unclear. There is considerable evidence that genes play a significant role in the pathogenesis of vitiligo. A few genes have been reported to contribute toward susceptibility to vitiligo. One of these is the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene. Objective To investigate the distribution of the ACE genotype in vitiligo patients in upper Egypt to examine whether the insertion (I) and deletion (D) of the ACE polymorphism confers susceptibility to vitiligo. Patients and methods A total of 100 Egyptian vitiligo patients (36 men and 64 women, age range 10–70 years), and 100 age-matched and sex-matched healthy control participants were enrolled in this study; they were subjected to an ACE gene polymorphism analysis. Results There was a significant difference in the percentage of D/D, I/D, and I/I genotypes between the control group and the vitiligo patients, with P less than 0.001 for each. The frequencies of both D and I alleles for the ACE genetic marker were significantly different between the control and patient populations (P 0.001). Genotype distribution and frequencies of D and I alleles did not show significant differences between vitiligo patients with and without other autoimmune diseases (P= 0.755, 0.860, 0.299, respectively). Conclusion The ACE gene can be a susceptible gene in Egyptian vitiligo patients and the increased risk of developing vitiligo is associated with the D/D genotype.