BACKGROUND: Variation in the carboxylesterase 1 gene (CES1) may contribute to the efficacy of ACEIs. Accordingly, we examined the impact of CES1 variants on plasma angiotensin II (ATII)/angiotensin I (ATI) ratio in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) that underwent ACEI dose titrations. Five of these variants have previously been associated with drug response or increased CES1 expression, i.e., CES1 copy number variation, the variant of the duplicated CES1 gene with high transcriptional activity, rs71647871, rs2244613, and rs3815583. Additionally, nine variants, representatives of CES1Var, and three other CES1 variants were examined.

METHODS: Patients with CHF, and clinical indication for ACEIs were categorized according to their CES1 genotype. Differences in mean plasma ATII/ATI ratios between genotype groups after ACEI dose titration, expressed as the least square mean (LSM) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), were assessed by analysis of variance.

RESULTS: A total of 200 patients were recruited and 127 patients (63.5%) completed the study. The mean duration of the CHF drug dose titration was 6.2 (SD 3.6) months. After ACEI dose titration, there was no difference in mean plasma ATII/ATI ratios between subjects with the investigated CES1 variants, and only one previously unexplored variation (rs2302722) qualified for further assessment. In the fully adjusted analysis of effects of rs2302722 on plasma ATII/ATI ratios, the difference in mean ATII/ATI ratio between the GG genotype and the minor allele carriers (GT and TT) was not significant, with a relative difference in LSMs of 0.67 (95% CI 0.43-1.07; P = 0.10). Results of analyses that only included enalapril-treated patients remained non-significant after Bonferroni correction for multiple parallel comparisons (difference in LSM 0.60 [95% CI 0.37-0.98], P = 0.045).

CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that the included single variants of CES1 do not significantly influence plasma ATII/ATI ratios in CHF patients treated with ACEIs and are unlikely to be primary determinants of ACEI efficacy.