Angiotensin-converting enzyme gene insertion/deletion, not bradykinin B2 receptor -58T/C gene polymorphism, associated with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor-related cough in Chinese female patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

To investigate the genetic susceptibility associated with cough related to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes, 189 non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients with proteinuria or hypertension treated with perindopril were studied. Cough was considered to be present if the patients had been bothered by a cough during treatment and if they had had related symptoms for at least 2 weeks without an identifiable cause. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) coupled with single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) was used to detect polymorphisms of ACE and bradykinin B2-receptor genes. After 8 weeks of treatment, 49.2% (93 of 189) of our NIDDM patients were found to be suffering from ACEI-related cough. ACEI-related cough was mainly associated with female patients, with 71.7% (76 of 106) of female and only 20.5% (17 of 83) of male patients experiencing cough after ACEI treatment. There was a significant association of ACE II genotype with ACEI-related cough. The genotype frequencies were 58.2% for II, 47.8% for ID, and 16.7% for DD in patients with ACEI-associated cough and 41.8% for II, 52.2% for ID, and 83.3% for DD in subjects without ACEI-associated cough (chi(2) = 10.268; df = 2, P =.006). As female patients made up the majority of the subjects suffering from ACEI-related cough, we further analyzed the association of ACE I/D genotype with ACEI-related cough separately by sex. Male patients with ACEI-related cough were not associated with ACE I/D genotype distribution, while female patients were strongly associated with ACE I/D genotype polymorphism (chi(2) = 16.12; df = 2; P <.001). There was no association between the bradykinin B2 receptor gene -58T/C polymorphism with ACEI-related cough. In conclusion, our results indicate that Chinese diabetic female subjects are susceptible to ACEI-related cough, and this susceptibility may be genetically predetermined.