Short paper

Gln27Glu variant of Beta2-adrenoceptor gene affects male type fat accumulation in women

Tarja Kunnas¹ , Riikka Lahtio¹ , Marja-Leena Kortelainen² , Anne Kalela¹ and Seppo T Nikkari^1,3

¹  Department of Medical Biochemistry, University of Tampere Medical School, Tampere, Finland

²  Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

³  Centre for Laboratory Medicine, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland

author email corresponding author email

Lipids in Health and Disease 2009, 8:43doi:10.1186/1476-511X-8-43

Published:	15 October 2009

Abstract

Background

The β₂-adrenergic receptor (BAR2) is the main lipolytic receptor in white human adipose tissue. There is a functional glutamine 27 glutamic acid (Gln27Glu, rs 1042714) polymorphism in its gene, which has been variably associated with body mass index. This gene variant may be associated with male-type adiposity in women and thus increased cardiovascular risk. We investigated whether the BAR2 Gln27Glu polymorphism is associated with visceral fat and coronary intima thickness in women.

Methods

The amount of mesenteric and omental fat was directly measured and anthropometric measurements were done from 112 forensic autopsy cases of women aged 15 to 49 years. The thickness of the coronary intima, which reflects the severity of atherosclerosis, was measured by computerized image analysis. The BAR2 Gln27Glu polymorphism was determined by polymerase chain reaction.

Results

We found that the amount of visceral fat was significantly higher in women with the Glu allele (689 ± 555 g) compared to Gln/Gln homozygotes (481 ± 392 g, P = 0.023). The waist-hip ratio also tended to be higher in women with the Glu allele compared to Gln/Gln homozygotes (p = 0.050). There were no statistically significant differences between the genotype groups in BMI or the thickness of coronary intima.

Conclusion

The Glu allele of the BAR2 gene may be a risk factor for visceral fat accumulation in young to middle-aged women. However, this polymorphism was not associated with preclinical atherosclerosis.