Polymorphism in genes involved in adrenergic signaling associated with Alzheimer's

To investigate the potential involvement of adrenergic signaling in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis, we performed genetic and functional studies of genes initiating the cascade. We chose two functional single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the beta1-adrenergic receptor (ADRBI) and the G protein beta3 subunit (GNB3) genes, respectively, and analyzed their allelic frequencies in a case-control sample of AD. We found that the GNB3 T allele produces a significant risk for AD in individuals homozygous for the ADRBI C allele, suggesting that the combined effect of both polymorphisms influences AD susceptibility. Interestingly, the co-expression of GNB3 T and ADRBI C alleles, compared with GNB3 C and ADRBI G, produced increased cAMP levels and MAPK activation following adrenergic stimulation of transfected human cell lines. Furthermore, the co-expression of these alleles also produced increases in APP expression. These data strongly indicate that the combination of GNB3 and ADRBI polymorphisms produces AD susceptibility by changing the cell responsiveness to adrenergic stimulation, pointing to the modulation of brain adrenergic receptors as a potential target for novel AD therapeutic strategies. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.