BACKGROUND: Our study aimed to explore the association between β1-adrenoceptor (ADRB1) rs1801253 polymorphism and analgesic effect of fentanyl after cancer surgeries in Chinese Han populations.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Postoperative fentanyl consumption of 120 patients for analgesia was recorded. Genotype distributions were detected by allele specific amplification-polymerase chain reaction (ASA-PCR) method. Postoperative pain was measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) method. Differences in postoperative VAS score and postoperative fentanyl consumption for analgesia in different genotype groups were compared by analysis of variance (ANOVA). Preoperative cold pressor-induced pain test was also performed to test the analgesic effect of fentanyl.

RESULTS: Frequencies of Gly/Gly, Gly/Arg, Arg/Arg genotypes were 45.0%, 38.3%, and 16.7%, respectively, and passed the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) test. The mean arterial pressure (MAP) and the heart rate (HR) had no significant differences at different times. After surgery, the VAS score and fentanyl consumption in Arg/Arg group were significantly higher than in other groups at the postoperative 2nd hour, but the differences were not obvious at the 4th hour, 24th hour, and the 48th hour. The results suggest that the Arg/Arg homozygote increased susceptibility to postoperative pain. The preoperative cold pressor-induced pain test suggested that individuals with Arg/Arg genotype showed worse analgesic effect of fentanyl compared to other genotypes.

CONCLUSIONS: In Chinese Han populations, ADRB1 rs1801253 polymorphism might be associated with the analgesic effect of fentanyl after cancer surgery.

Keywords: Analgesics, Opioid - pharmacology, Fentanyl - pharmacology, Neoplasms - surgery, Pain, Postoperative - drug therapy, Polymorphism, Genetic, Receptors, Adrenergic, beta-1 - genetics, young adult