Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a common chronic condition that is understudied compared to other psychiatric disorders. An altered adrenergic function has been reported in GAD, however direct evidence for genetic susceptibility is missing. This study evaluated the associations of gene variants in adrenergic receptors (ADRs) with GAD, with the involvement of stressful events. Data were ob...

Prostate cancer patients have increased levels of stress and anxiety. Conversely, men who take beta blockers, which interfere with signaling from the stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline, have a lower incidence of prostate cancer; however, the mechanisms underlying stress-prostate cancer interactions are unknown. Here, we report that stress promotes prostate carcinogenesis in mice in an...

The aim of this study was to evaluate adrenergic responses in the peripheral blood of trained road cyclists at rest, at maximal intensity of incremental bicycle exercise test, and during 15 minutes of recovery, as well as the relationship between them. Competitive male road cyclists, in the pre-competitive phase of a season, mean age 21.7 ± 6.4 years, and BMI 20.7 ± 0.8 kg·m(-2), performed an i...

Recently, the rs1042713 G > A and rs1042714 C > G polymorphisms in the beta-2 adrenergic receptor (ADRB2) gene were shown to be related to atherosclerosis diseases. Therefore, we performed a systemic meta-analysis to determine whether the two functional polymorphisms are related to the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) and coronary artery disease (CAD). We identified published studies that are...

The determination of the first set of crystal structures for the family of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) has opened up new opportunities in structure-based ligand discovery for this pharmaceutically relevant protein family. We have explored the possibilities and challenges of structure-based virtual fragment screening (SBVFS) against the histamine H4 receptor (H4R), a key player in inflam...

The interaction of an agonist-bound G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) with its cognate G-protein initiates a sequence of experimentally quantifiable changes in both the GPCR and G-protein. These include the release of GDP from G(alpha), the formation of a ternary complex between the nucleotide-free G-protein and the GPCR, which has a high affinity for agonist, followed by the binding of GTP to ...

476 A reas of negative charge come and go on the plasma membrane, report Tony Yeung, Sergio Grinstein (Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada), and colleagues. Loss of the charged areas correlates with the loss of certain signaling proteins from the membrane and inactivation of related downstream activity. Attraction based on charge is well established for sequence-specifi c protein–protei...

Arg/Arg homozygotes for the Gly16Arg polymorphism in the β₂-adrenoreceptor gene (ADRB2) have a reduced response to short-acting β₂-agonists but no effect has been associated with long-acting β₂-agonists (LABAs). We selected 604 subjects with current asthma from the European Community Respiratory Health Study to evaluate whether asthma control and lung function decline were associated with Gly16...

Background Recently, immunogenetic studies have demonstrated a potential association between atopy and metabolic syndrome in children. Several susceptibility genes have been linked between obesity, diabetes and atopy, such as CTLA4 (CD28-ICOS), IL12b, ADRB2, TNFa and LTA4. It has also been noted that obese atopic patients have different clinical manifestation compared to those not obese, for in...