β-Blockade and increased dyslipidemia in patients bearing Glu27 variant of β2 adrenergic receptor gene

In this study, the effects of polymorphisms of the β₂ and β₃ adrenergic receptor genes on the occurrence of dyslipidemia and diabetes mellitus in hypertensive patients treated with β-blockers (atenolol or metoprolol) were evaluated. Patients who gave written informed consent were asked to return for blood sampling for estimation of serum glucose, total cholesterol, HDL, triglycerides and for genotype determination. Genotyping analysis was performed by PCR-RFLP assay. In patients bearing β₂AR Glu27 or the β₃AR Arg64 variant there was a larger occurrence of hypertriglyceridemia, alone or in combination with elevated cholesterol levels. Furthermore, the β₂AR Glu27 variant significantly associates with hypetriglyceridemia in a cumulative fashion. The risk to develop this side effect after β-blockade was four-fold higher in patients homozygous for the β₂AR Glu27 variant as compared to β₂AR27Gln allele. This result allows the identification of patients at high risk to develop metabolic complications to chronic β-blockade treatment.