T. Hayakawa et al., Gln27Glu and Arg16Gly polymorphisms of the beta(2)-adrenergic receptor gene are not associated with obesity in Japanese men, METABOLISM, 49(9), 2000, pp. 1215-1218
The beta(2)-adrenergic receptor (beta(2)AR), beta(3)AR, or uncoupling prote
in 1 (UCP1) may play a pathogenic role in obesity. In Swedish Caucasians, a
polymorphism at codon 27 (Gln27Glu) of the beta(2)AR gene was shown to be
associated with obesity, but no such association was shown for a polymorphi
sm of codon 16 (Arg16Gly). Thus, we investigated whether these polymorphism
s contribute to obesity in 210 Japanese men. The frequencies of the Gln27Gl
u and Arg16Gly polymorphisms were 0.05 and 0.48, respectively, and there wa
s no association with obesity. A strong linkage disequilibrium between the
Gln27Glu and Arg16Gly polymorphisms was shown, but there was no apparent ad
ditive effect on the clinical or metabolic characteristics. Our results sug
gest that the Gln27Glu and Arg16Gly polymorphisms of the beta(2)AR gene are
not a major contributing factor to obesity in Japanese men. Copyright (C)
2000 by W.B. Saunders Company.