ADRB2 Arg16Gly Polymorphism and Pulmonary Function Response of Inhaled Corticosteroids plus Long-Acting Beta Agonists for Asthma Treatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: The beta-2 adrenergic receptor (ADRB2) Arg16Gly polymorphism may alter the bronchodilation response to long-acting beta2-agonists, thereby influencing the clinical effectiveness of LABAs plus corticosteroids (ICS) treatment. But the results of individual studies are inconclusive.

Methods: A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Database, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, Chinese BioMedical Literature Database, and VIP databases. The meta-analysis was performed with RevMan statistical software (version 5.2), and potential publication bias was estimated by Egger's test using STATA (version 12.0), with p < 0.05 indicating significant publication bias.

Results: We found 5 cohort studies with a total of 632 patients and included them in the meta-analysis. There are no significant differences in pulmonary function response between patients with the Arg/Arg and Arg/Gly phenotype (SMD -0.04, 95% CI -0.45 to 0.37; p =0.84). There were also no significant differences in the pulmonary function response between patients with the Arg/Arg and Gly/Gly phenotype (MD -0.03, 95% CI -0.07 to 0.02; p =0.28).

Conclusions: Our systematic review and meta-analysis suggest that ADRB2 Arg16Gly polymorphism is not associated with pulmonary response to asthma treatment with ICS plus LABAs.