Paper
International Journal of Obesity (2005) 29, 449–457. doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0802883 Published online 18 January 2005
Association of adipose tissue deposition and beta-2 adrenergic receptor variants: the IRAS family study
L A Lange1, J M Norris2, C D Langefeld1, B J Nicklas3, L E Wagenknecht1, M F Saad4 and D W Bowden5
- 1Department of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
- 2Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO, USA
- 3Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
- 4Diabetes Center, University of California, Los Angeles, Alhambra, CA, 91801, USA
- 5Department of Biochemistry, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
Correspondence: Dr LA Lange, Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, CB #7264, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7264, USA. E-mail: lwgnkcht@wfubmc.edu
Received 9 January 2004; Revised 15 July 2004; Accepted 1 September 2004; Published online 18 January 2005.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
Adipose tissue distribution (visceral vs subcutaneous) has been shown to be an important predictor of insulin resistance, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, independent of body mass index. The beta-2 adrenergic receptor is a major lipolytic receptor in human fat cells and the gene that codes for this protein is an important candidate gene for measures of adiposity and fat deposition. We examined whether two common polymorphisms in codons 16 (Arg16Gly) and 27 (Gln27Glu) are associated with measures of fat distribution in participants of the IRAS Family Study.
METHODS:
We recruited African-American (AA) and Hispanic-American (HA) families from Los Angeles, CA, USA (18 pedigrees, 272 AA individuals), San Antonio, TX, USA (33 pedigrees, 448 HA individuals) and San Luis Valley, CO, USA (12 pedigrees, 272 HA individuals). We estimated adipose tissue distribution via computed tomography. To test for an association between adiposity measures and these polymorphisms, we used generalized estimating equations, adjusting for age, gender, clinical site (ethnicity), body mass index, and familial correlation.
RESULTS:
Of the 992 individuals genotyped for these polymorphisms, 57% were female and 15% had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The mean age was 42.7
14.6 y. The Glu27 allele of the Gln27Glu polymorphism was positively associated with (P-value for recessive model): body mass index (0.025), visceral adipose tissue (<0.0001) and visceral-to-subcutaneous adipose ratio (0.009), but not with subcutaneous adipose tissue (0.952). The Arg16Gly polymorphism was not associated with any of the adiposity measures.
CONCLUSIONS:
These findings suggest that genetic variation in the beta-2 adrenergic receptor gene influences fat deposition and body size in AAs and HAs. In particular, these results support a role for the gene in the distribution of visceral adipose tissue but not subcutaneous adipose tissue.
Keywords:
beta-2 adrenergic receptor, subcutaneous adipose tissue, visceral adipose tissue, fat distribution
