The aim: The objective of the study was to analyze the frequency of Arg16Gly polymorphism in the β2 -adrenoceptor (β2 -АR) gene in patients with bronchial asthma (BA) and to assess the association of the polymorphism with BA risk.
Materials and methods: We examined 553 BA patients and 95 apparently healthy individuals. Arg16Gly polymorphism in the β2 -АR gene (rs1042713) was determined using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. Statistical analysis of obtained results was performed using SPSS-17 program.
Results: It was established that distribution of Arg/Arg, Arg/Gly, and Gly/Gly genotypes for Arg16Gly polymorphism in the β2 -АR gene was 44.2%, 40.0%, 15.8% in the control group vs. 31.3%; 45.7% and 23.0 among BA patients, respectively (χ2 = 6.59; р = 0.037). No significant difference was observed with regards to the distribution of genotypes for Arg16Gly polymorphism in the β2 -АR gene in men and women controls (χ2 = 4.05; р = 0.13) and BA patients (χ2 = 4.34; р = 0.11). BA risk was 1.74 times higher in the minor allele carriers (Arg/Gly + Gly/Gly genotypes) for Arg16Gly polymorphism in the β2 -АR gene.
Conclusions: Analysis of Arg16Gly polymorphic variants in the β2-AR gene showed a statistically significant difference in the distribution of Arg/Arg, Arg/Gly, and Gly/Gly genotypes in patients with BA and apparently healthy individuals due to the higher frequency of Arg/Arg genotype in controls and higher frequency of Gly/Gly genotype in patients with asthma. No difference with regard to gender was found in the distribution of genotypes.

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