Introduction: The insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of 287 bp Alu repeat sequence in intron 16 of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) gene resulting in three genotypes I/D, D/D and I/I. ACE gene expression is associated with ACE levels in cells and in the plasma. It indicated that the polymorphism may modulate the expression of the ACE gene. The D/D genotype is believed to confer deleterious effect to many pathogenesis, also, it might be a cause-effect for type 2 diabetic nephropathy (T2DN). In this study, we evaluated the frequency of the different genotypes of ACE gene and investigated if there is an association between ACE gene polymorphism and T2DN by comparing the genotypes results of T2DN patients to healthy control, Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and nephropathy patients in Gaza Strip. Methodology: The study included 170 subjects, consisting of 43 T2DM patients undergoing dialysis "T2DN" compared to 41 T2DM patients who were not undergoing dialysis, 43 patients undergoing dialysis without T2DM and 43 healthy individuals. Blood samples were collected in EDTA tubes for DNA extraction. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was used to detect ACE gene polymorphism. All subjects were asked to fill the questionnaire interview. Results and Conclusion: The initial results showed that there is no statistically significant association between ACE genotypes and T2DN, also between the T2DM and nephropathy when compared to the healthy control (p> 0.05). The (D/D) genotype was the most frequent in all study groups. Moreover, no association was observed between ACE genotypes and gender, diabetic nephropathy, nephropathy, diabetes, hypertension, obesity and various other diabetes complications.

Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.Background: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is progressive kidney damage in which the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) decreases by 15% of that performed by normal kidneys, with the result that the kidneys are no longer to function effectively and this condition is treated with either kidney transplantation or dialysis. Hemodialysis (HD) is a process in which the blood passes through a machine (dialyzer) to remove waste. Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) is one of the major components of the renin-angiotensin aldosterone system (RAAS) that is responsible for blood pressure regulation. Insertion/Deletion I/D polymorphism of a 287 bp Alu repeat sequence in introns 16 of the ACE gene results in three genotypes I/D, D/D and I/I. The aims of this study were to evaluate ACE genotypes and allele frequency among HD patients and control subjects and to examine the association between ACE genotypes with HD risk. Methods: A retrospective casecontrol study included 186 subjects, 86 HD patients and 100 healthy individuals as a control. EDTA whole blood samples were collected from all participants for DNA extraction, and the ACE gene polymorphism was analyzed by using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique. Additionally, all individuals were requested to complete the questionnaire. Results: The initial results demonstrated that the D/D genotype was the most common genotype in all subjects and the association between ACE genotypes with HD occurrence was not statistically significant in the Gaza Strip-Palestine. Furthermore, no statistically significant association was detected between the polymorphism and the study groups (p-value = 0.511).

CORRECTION In the publication of this article, the figure 1 contained the mistake. This has now been updated as the new figure as below in the original article. The authors declare that the correction does not change the results or conclusion of this paper.