[Study on relationship between Trp64Arg polymorphism of β3-adrenergic receptor gene and obesity and blood lipids]

To investigate the relationship between the Trp64Arg polymorphism of β3-adrenergic receptor (ADRB3) gene and obesity and the levels of blood lipids in the Northern Han Chinese population.

A total of 1 602 subjects in northern Han Chinese were recruited in this study, including 995 males and 607 females. Genotyping was performed using the TaqMan assay to identify the Trp64Arg polymorphisms of the ADRB3. The relationship between the polymorphism and obesity and blood lipids was analyzed.

The genotype distribution for Trp64Arg polymorphism was in conformity with the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) in the recruited population (χ² = 0.043, P = 0.087). The frequency of Arg64 allele was 15.82%. In the overall analysis, no significant association was showed between the Trp64Arg polymorphism and the Body Mass Index (BMI) or the levels of blood lipids. Subgroup analysis was performed by hypertension. In the hypertensive subgroup, the results showed significant association between the polymorphism and the levels of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and the ratio of TC and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TC/HDL-C) (TC: (5.27 ± 1.04) mmol/L vs (5.10 ± 1.02) mmol/L, t = 2.334, P = 0.02; LDL-C: (3.42 ± 0.88) mmol/L vs (3.27 ± 0.87) mmol/L, t = 2.067, P = 0.039; TC/HDL: 4.81 ± 1.31 vs 4.57 ± 1.25, t = 2.563, P = 0.011). Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that there were significant associations between the Trp64Arg polymorphism and the levels of blood lipids. The polymorphism might affect 3.2% variances of the level of TC (P = 0.030, R² = 0.032), 2.5% variances of the level of LDL-C (P = 0.030, R² = 0.025), 3.4% variances of the TC/HDL-C ratio (P = 0.001, R² = 0.034), respectively. In the normatensive subgroup, there was no significant association between the polymorphism and the levels of lipids. No significant association was observed between the polymorphism and BMI either in the hypertension group or in the normotension group.

The Trp64Arg polymorphism in ADRB3 gene may be associated with the levels of blood lipids of the Chinese Han patients with essential hypertension. The hypertensive patients with the Trp64Trp genotype may be liable to dyslipidemia.