Renin-Angiotensin System Gene Polymorphisms and Retinopathy in Chinese Patients With Type 2 Diabetes
- G. Neil Thomas, PHD1,
- Julian A.J.H. Critchley, FRCP1,
- Brian Tomlinson, FRCP1,
- Vincent T.F. Yeung, MD1,
- Dennis Lam, MD2,
- Clive S. Cockram, FRCP1 and
- Juliana C.N. Chan, FRCP1
- 1Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong
- 2Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong
Diabetic eye disease is the leading cause of new cases of blindness in many developed countries, for which macular edema and proliferative retinopathy are major causes of loss of vision (1). Genetic studies have previously suggested that diabetic retinopathy is partly determined by genetic factors (2). Angiotensin II, produced locally within the retina, has potent hemodynamic and growth-promoting effects and stimulates ocular neovascularization (3,4). The presence of retinopathy is associated with an activated renin-angiotensin system (RAS) (5), and inhibition of the RAS significantly reduced the progression of retinopathy in nonhypertensive patients with type 1 diabetes (6). The ACE gene insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism has been reported to be associated with retinopathy in type 1 diabetic subjects, but the findings are heterogeneous …
