ABSTRACT
Chagas' disease is common in Latin America and is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi. It is usually associated with chronic cardiomyopathy, the progression of which could be related to genetic factors. As alterations in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system have been reported in the disease, the aim of this study was to determine whether associated genetic polymorphisms influence the development of myocardial damage. The study involved 125 patients who were divided into two groups according to whether they had mild or severe cardiomyopathy. The insertion/deletion polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene was investigated using standard techniques and results were correlated with disease stage. The genotypes were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. After adjusting for demographic variables, no significant relationship was found between the polymorphism and progression of chronic Chagas' disease. Although our sample was limited, the results suggest that the progression of cardiomyopathy in chronic Chagas' disease is unrelated to the insertion/deletion polymorphism.
Subject(s)
Chagas Cardiomyopathy/genetics , Chagas Cardiomyopathy/pathology , Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A/genetics , Aged , Case-Control Studies , Disease Progression , Female , Gene Deletion , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Mutagenesis, Insertional , Polymorphism, GeneticABSTRACT
La enfermedad de Chagas es frecuente en Latinoaméricay la causa Trypanosoma cruzi. Suele asociarse amiocardiopatía crónica, cuya progresión podría relacionarsecon factores genéticos. Dado que se han publicadoalteraciones del sistema renina-angiotensina-aldosteronaen esta enfermedad, este trabajo buscó determinarsi los polimorfismos genéticos relacionados afectaban ala progresión del daño miocárdico. Se seleccionó a 125pacientes y se agrupó según presentasen miocardiopatíaleve o severa. El polimorfismo de inserción/delecióndel gen de la enzima de conversión de angiotensina seanalizó por pruebas estandarizadas, y los resultados secorrelacionaron con el estadio de la enfermedad. Losgenotipos cumplieron el equilibrio de Hardy-Weinberg.Después de ajustar según variables demográficas, nohubo relación significativa entre el polimorfismo estudiadoy la progresión de la enfermedad de Chagas. Pese aque la muestra fue limitada, los resultados indican que laprogresión de la miocardiopatía chagásica no está relacionadacon el polimorfismo de inserción/deleción (AU)
Chagas disease is common in Latin America and iscaused by Trypanosoma cruzi. It is usually associatedwith chronic cardiomyopathy, the progression of whichcould be related to genetic factors. As alterations in therenin-angiotensin-aldosterone system have been reportedin the disease, the aim of this study was to determinewhether associated genetic polymorphisms influence thedevelopment of myocardial damage. The study involved125 patients who were divided into two groups accordingto whether they had mild or severe cardiomyopathy.The insertion/deletion polymorphism of the angiotensinconvertingenzyme gene was investigated using standardtechniques and results were correlated with disease stage.The genotypes were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.After adjusting for demographic variables, no significantrelationship was found between the polymorphism andprogression of chronic Chagas disease. Although oursample was limited, the results suggest that the progressionof cardiomyopathy in chronic Chagas disease is unrelatedto the insertion/deletion polymorphism (AU)
