Association of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) and Glutathione S-Transferase (GST) Gene Polymorphisms with Diabetic Nephropathy

Diabetic nephropathy accounts for the most serious microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus. It is suggested that the prevalence of diabetic nephropathy will continue to increase in future pretense a major challenge to the healthcare system resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. It occurs as a result of interaction between both genetic and environmental factors in individuals with T2DM-Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Genetic susceptibility has been offered as an important factor for the development of diabetic nephropathy, and various research efforts are being executed worldwide to identify the susceptibility gene for diabetic nephropathy. Several single nucleotide polymorphisms have been found in various genes giving rise to various gene variants which have been found to play a role in genetic susceptibility to diabetic nephropathy. The risk of developing diabetic nephropathy is increased several times by inheriting risk alleles at susceptibility loci of various genes like ACE, GST, TNF-α, COL4A1, eNOS, GLUT, etc. The identification of these genetic variants at a biomarker level could thus, let the detection of those individuals at high risk for diabetic nephropathy which could thus help in the treatment, diagnosis and early prevention of the disease. The present review discusses about the ACE-Angiotensin Converting Enzymeand GST-Glutathione S Transferase gene variants associated with diabetic nephropathy.