Genetic risk factors for dilated cardiomyopathy

Abstract

Aim. To study the diagnostic significance of genetic testing in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), identify predictors of life-threatening ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VTAs) and assess adverse clinical outcomes in different genetic groups.Material and methods. The study included 126 unrelated patients with verified DCM as follows: 70 (55,6%) probands with criteria for familial DCM and 56 (44,4%) individuals with a probable hereditary component. All patients (age, 43,1±11,3 years; men, 92 (73%); left ventricular ejection fraction, 30,6±8,43%; left ventricular enddiastolic diameter, 68,3±8,36 mm; follow-up period — median, 49 months) receive a complex of diagnostic investigations, including genetic screening using nextgeneration sequencing, followed by verification of variants by the Sanger method.Results. Pathogenic and likely pathogenic genetic variants were found in 61 (48,4%) of 126 patients with DCM. The dominant mutations were titin-truncating variants (TTNtvs), identified in 16 individuals (12,7%), and variants of lamin A/C (LMNA), identified in 13 probands (10,3%). Mutations in the other 19 genes were found in 32 (25,4%) patients. The following primary endpoints were assessed: sudden cardiac death (SCD), episodes of VTA (sustained ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation) and appropriate shocks of implanted cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT)/cardioverter defibrillators (CVD) devices. As a result of ROC analysis, the following independent risk factors for SCD were identified: mutations in the LMNA gene (AUC, 0,760; p=0,0001) and non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (cut-off heart rate ≥161 bpm: AUC, 0,788; p=0,0001). When comparing the phenotypes and genotypes of DCM, TTNtv genotype was associated with a lower prevalence of complete left bundle branch block (χ2=7,46; p=0,024), a lower need for CRT/CVD implantation (χ2=5,70; p=0,017) and more rare episodes of sustained ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation (χ2=30,1; p=0,0001) compared with LMNA carriers. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed the worst prognosis in carriers of LMNA mutations both in relation to life-threatening VTA (log rang χ2=88,5; p=0,0001) and in achieving all unfavorable outcomes (χ2=27,8; p=0,0001) compared with groups of genenegative individuals, carriers of TTNtv and other genotypes.Conclusion. The phenotypes of DCM with TTNtv did not significantly differ in the incidence of VTAs and adverse outcomes compared with the gene-negative group and other genotypes (with the exception of LMNA). The contribution of the associations of LMNA mutations with VTAs on prognosis was confirmed, which shows the important role of LMNA genotype diagnosis for SCD risk stratification in patients with DCM.

Keywords

• sudden cardiac death
• genetic screening
• dilated cardiomyopathy
• lamin a/c gene (lmna)
• titin gene (ttn)
• risk predictors