Angiotensin

Meta-analysis was performed in the current study to evaluate the relationship of the angiotensin-converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphism with the risk of the incidence of Henoch–Sch？nlein purpura. The electronic databases, including Embase, PubMed and Google scholar, were systemically retrieved to search for related articles. Meanwhile, statistical analysis was performed using the odds ratio and the corresponding 95% confidence interval. A total of six articles enrolling 504 patients and 706 healthy controls was enrolled into the current meta-analysis. Results of the meta-analysis suggested that the angiotensin-converting enzyme D allele was markedly correlated with the risk of the incidence of Henoch–Sch？nlein purpura among the general population (deletion (D) vs. insertion (I): odds ratio (OR) 1.42, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05–1.93; DD vs. II: OR 2.23, 95% CI 1.06–4.70; DI vs. II: OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.00–1.85; dominant model: OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.00–2.42; recessive model: OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.06–3.16). Moreover, such a polymorphism was found to correlate with the susceptibility to Henoch–Sch？nlein purpura when studies were stratified according to the sample size of over 200. In addition, such a polymorphism was recognised to be remarkably associated with the susceptibility to Henoch–Sch？nlein purpura in the Caucasian population, which was not found in the Asian population. The results of the current meta-analysis indicate that the angiotensin-converting enzyme D allele might be a risk factor against the risk of Henoch–Sch？nlein purpura, especially in Caucasians