Patent ID: 8530160

Claim:
A method for treating a human patient diagnosed with heart failure, the method comprising: a) obtaining a sample comprising a polynucleotide encoding G-protein coupled receptor kinase 5 (GRK5), or a fragment thereof, from the patient, b) treating the sample, under amplification conditions, with a pair of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers that hybridize to the polynucleotide, the PCR primers comprising SEQ ID NO: 4 and SEQ ID NO: 5, to provide an amplification product, c) sequencing the amplification product of step (b), d) identifying the amino acid residue at position 41 of GRK5 based on the sequencing of step (c), and (e) treating the patient with beta blocker therapy when the patient is homozygous for glutamine at position 41 of GRK5, or treating the patient with a therapy for heart failure that excludes beta blocker therapy when the patient is heterozygous or homozygous for leucine at position 41 of GRK5.