Loading...
In the 1970s, β-blockers were thought to be contraindicated in patients with heart failure, but today, they are a mainstay of therapy. Patients with heart failure have chronically elevated levels of norepinephrine, which attaches to β-adrenergic receptors on myocytes and stimulates a signaling cascade. Blocking this process protects myocytes from hypertrophy and cell death.
A multi-institutional team has identified a common polymorphism in one molecule, GRK5, that is present in 25% of people who identified themselves as “African Americans” (but in only about 2% of those who identified themselves as “European Americans”) and that acts as a genetic β-blocker. A prospective study of 375 black patients with one or two copies of this polymorphism…