Publications
79 results found
Owen R, Buchan R, Frenneaux M, et al., 2024, Sex differences in the clinical presentation and natural history of dilated cardiomyopathy, JACC: Heart Failure, Vol: 12, Pages: 352-363, ISSN: 2213-1787
Background: Biological sex has a diverse impact on the cardiovascular system. Its influence on dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) remains unresolved.Objective: To investigate sex-specific differences in DCM presentation, natural history, and prognostic factors.Methods We conducted a prospective observational cohort study of DCM patients, assessing baseline characteristics, CMR-imaging, biomarkers and genotype. The composite outcome was cardiovascular mortality or major heart-failure (HF) events. Results: Overall, 206 females and 398 males with DCM were followed for a median of 3.9 years. At baseline female patients had higher left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), smaller left ventricular volumes, less prevalent mid-wall myocardial fibrosis (23% vs 42%) and lower high sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTnI) than males (all p<0.05), with no difference in time from diagnosis, age at enrollment, NT-proBNP levels, pathogenic DCM genetic variants, myocardial fibrosis extent or medications used for HF. Despite a more favourable profile, the risk of the primary outcome at 2 years was higher in females than males (8.6% vs 4.4%, adjusted hazard ratio 3.14, 95% CI 1.55 to 6.35, p=0.001). Between 2-5 years, the effect of sex as a prognostic modifier attenuated. Age, mid-wall myocardial fibrosis, LVEF, left atrial volume, NT-proBNP, hs-cTnI, left bundle branch block and NYHA class were not sex specific prognostic factors. Conclusions: We identify a novel paradox in prognosis for females with DCM. Female DCM patients have a paradoxical early increase in major HF events despite less prevalent myocardial fibrosis and a milder phenotype at presentation. Future studies should interrogate the mechanistic basis for these sex differences.
Jones RE, Hammersley DJ, Zheng S, et al., 2024, Assessing the association between genetic and phenotypic features of dilated cardiomyopathy and outcome in patients with coronary artery disease, European Journal of Heart Failure, Vol: 26, Pages: 46-55, ISSN: 1388-9842
AimsTo examine the relevance of genetic and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) features of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in individuals with coronary artery disease (CAD).Methods and resultsThis study includes two cohorts. First, individuals with CAD recruited into the UK Biobank (UKB) were evaluated. Second, patients with CAD referred to a tertiary centre for evaluation with late gadolinium enhancement (LGE)-CMR were recruited (London cohort); patients underwent genetic sequencing as part of the research protocol and long-term follow-up. From 31 154 individuals with CAD recruited to UKB, rare pathogenic variants in DCM genes were associated with increased risk of death or major adverse cardiac events (hazard ratio 1.57, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.22–2.01, p < 0.001). Of 1619 individuals with CAD included from the UKB CMR substudy, participants with a rare variant in a DCM-associated gene had lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) compared to genotype negative individuals (mean 47 ± 10% vs. 57 ± 8%, p < 0.001). Of 453 patients in the London cohort, 63 (14%) had non-infarct pattern LGE (NI-LGE) on CMR. Patients with NI-LGE had lower LVEF (mean 38 ± 18% vs. 48 ± 16%, p < 0.001) compared to patients without NI-LGE, with no significant difference in the burden of rare protein altering variants in DCM-associated genes between groups (9.5% vs. 6.7%, odds ratio 1.5, 95% CI 0.4–4.3, p = 0.4). NI-LGE was not independently associated with adverse clinical outcomes.ConclusionRare pathogenic variants in DCM-associated genes impact left ventricular remodelling and outcomes in stable CAD. NI-LGE is associated with adverse remodelling but is not an independent predictor of outcome and had no rare genetic basis in our study.
Allouba M, Walsh R, Afify A, et al., 2023, Ethnicity, consanguinity, and genetic architecture of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, European Heart Journal, Vol: 44, Pages: 5146-5158, ISSN: 0195-668X
AIMS: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is characterized by phenotypic heterogeneity that is partly explained by the diversity of genetic variants contributing to disease. Accurate interpretation of these variants constitutes a major challenge for diagnosis and implementing precision medicine, especially in understudied populations. The aim is to define the genetic architecture of HCM in North African cohorts with high consanguinity using ancestry-matched cases and controls. METHODS AND RESULTS: Prospective Egyptian patients (n = 514) and controls (n = 400) underwent clinical phenotyping and genetic testing. Rare variants in 13 validated HCM genes were classified according to standard clinical guidelines and compared with a prospective HCM cohort of majority European ancestry (n = 684). A higher prevalence of homozygous variants was observed in Egyptian patients (4.1% vs. 0.1%, P = 2 × 10-7), with variants in the minor HCM genes MYL2, MYL3, and CSRP3 more likely to present in homozygosity than the major genes, suggesting these variants are less penetrant in heterozygosity. Biallelic variants in the recessive HCM gene TRIM63 were detected in 2.1% of patients (five-fold greater than European patients), highlighting the importance of recessive inheritance in consanguineous populations. Finally, rare variants in Egyptian HCM patients were less likely to be classified as (likely) pathogenic compared with Europeans (40.8% vs. 61.6%, P = 1.6 × 10-5) due to the underrepresentation of Middle Eastern populations in current reference resources. This proportion increased to 53.3% after incorporating methods that leverage new ancestry-matched controls presented here. CONCLUSION: Studying consanguineous populations reveals novel insights with relevance to genetic testing and our understanding of the genetic architecture of HCM.
Curran L, Simoes Monteiro de Marvao A, Inglese P, et al., 2023, Genotype-phenotype taxonomy of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine, Vol: 16, Pages: 559-570, ISSN: 2574-8300
Background:Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is an important cause of sudden cardiac death associated with heterogeneous phenotypes but there is no systematic framework for classifying morphology or assessing associated risks. Here we quantitatively survey genotype-phenotype associations in HCM to derive a data-driven taxonomy of disease expression.Methods:We enrolled 436 HCM patients (median age 60 years; 28.8% women) with clinical, genetic and imaging data. Anindependent cohort of 60 HCM patients from Singapore (median age 59 years; 11% women) and a reference population from UK Biobank (n = 16,691, mean age 55 years; 52.5% women) were also recruited. We used machine learning to analyse the three-dimensional structure of the left ventricle from cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and build a tree-based classification of HCM phenotypes. Genotype and mortality risk distributions were projected on the tree.Results:Carriers of pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants (P/LP) for HCM had lower left ventricular mass, but greater basalseptal hypertrophy, with reduced lifespan (mean follow-up 9.9 years) compared to genotype negative individuals(hazard ratio: 2.66; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.42-4.96; P < 0.002). Four main phenotypic branches were identified using unsupervised learning of three-dimensional shape: 1) non-sarcomeric hypertrophy with co-existing hypertension; 2) diffuse and basal asymmetric hypertrophy associated with outflow tract obstruction; 3) isolated basal hypertrophy; 4) milder non-obstructive hypertrophy enriched for familial sarcomeric HCM (odds ratio for P/LP variants: 2.18 [95% CI: 1.93-2.28, P = 0.0001]). Polygenic risk for HCM was also associated with different patterns and degrees of disease expression. The model was generalisable to an independent cohort (trustworthiness M1: 0.86-0.88).Conclusions:We report a data-driven taxonomy of HCM for identifying groups of patients with similar morphology while preserving a continuum of disease severi
McGurk K, Zhang X, Theotokis P, et al., 2023, The penetrance of rare variants in cardiomyopathy-associated genes: a cross-sectional approach to estimate penetrance for secondary findings, American Journal of Human Genetics, Vol: 110, Pages: 1482-1495, ISSN: 0002-9297
Understanding the penetrance of pathogenic variants identified as secondary findings (SFs) is of paramount importance with the growing availability of genetic testing. We estimated penetrance through large-scale analyses of individuals referred for diagnostic sequencing for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM; 10,400 affected individuals, 1,332 variants) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM; 2,564 affected individuals, 663 variants), using a cross-sectional approach comparing allele frequencies against reference populations (293,226 participants from UK Biobank and gnomAD). We generated updated prevalence estimates for HCM (1:543) and DCM (1:220). In aggregate, the penetrance by late adulthood of rare, pathogenic variants (23% for HCM, 35% for DCM) and likely pathogenic variants (7% for HCM, 10% for DCM) was substantial for dominant cardiomyopathy (CM). Penetrance was significantly higher for variant subgroups annotated as loss of function or ultra-rare and for males compared to females for variants in HCM-associated genes. We estimated variant-specific penetrance for 316 recurrent variants most likely to be identified as SFs (found in 51% of HCM- and 17% of DCM-affected individuals). 49 variants were observed at least ten times (14% of affected individuals) in HCM-associated genes. Median penetrance was 14.6% (±14.4% SD). We explore estimates of penetrance by age, sex, and ancestry and simulate the impact of including future cohorts. This dataset reports penetrance of individual variants at scale and will inform the management of individuals undergoing genetic screening for SFs. While most variants had low penetrance and the costs and harms of screening are unclear, some individuals with highly penetrant variants may benefit from SFs.
Allouba M, Walsh R, Afify A, et al., 2023, Homozygosity predominantly affects hypertrophic cardiomyopathy minor genes in an Egyptian clinical cohort, 55th European-Society-of-Human-Genetics (ESHG) Conference, Publisher: SPRINGERNATURE, Pages: 648-648, ISSN: 1018-4813
Tadros R, Zheng SL, Grace C, et al., 2023, Large scale genome-wide association analyses identify novel genetic loci and mechanisms in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy., medRxiv
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality with both monogenic and polygenic components. We here report results from the largest HCM genome-wide association study (GWAS) and multi-trait analysis (MTAG) including 5,900 HCM cases, 68,359 controls, and 36,083 UK Biobank (UKB) participants with cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging. We identified a total of 70 loci (50 novel) associated with HCM, and 62 loci (32 novel) associated with relevant left ventricular (LV) structural or functional traits. Amongst the common variant HCM loci, we identify a novel HCM disease gene, SVIL, which encodes the actin-binding protein supervillin, showing that rare truncating SVIL variants cause HCM. Mendelian randomization analyses support a causal role of increased LV contractility in both obstructive and non-obstructive forms of HCM, suggesting common disease mechanisms and anticipating shared response to therapy. Taken together, the findings significantly increase our understanding of the genetic basis and molecular mechanisms of HCM, with potential implications for disease management.
Amin R, Morris-Rosendahl D, Edwards M, et al., 2022, The addition of genetic testing and cardiovascular magnetic resonance to routine clinical data for stratification of aetiology in dilated cardiomyopathy, Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, Vol: 9, ISSN: 2297-055X
Background: Guidelines recommend genetic testing and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) for the investigation of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). However, the incremental value is unclear. We assessed the impact of these investigations in determining etiology.Methods: Sixty consecutive patients referred with DCM and recruited to our hospital biobank were selected. Six independent experts determined the etiology of each phenotype in a step-wise manner based on (1) routine clinical data, (2) clinical and genetic data and (3) clinical, genetic and CMR data. They indicated their confidence (1-3) in the classification and any changes to management at each step.Results: Six physicians adjudicated 60 cases. The addition of genetics and CMR resulted in 57 (15.8%) and 26 (7.2%) changes in the classification of etiology, including an increased number of genetic diagnoses and a reduction in idiopathic diagnoses. Diagnostic confidence improved at each step (p < 0.0005). The number of diagnoses made with low confidence reduced from 105 (29.2%) with routine clinical data to 71 (19.7%) following the addition of genetics and 37 (10.3%) with the addition of CMR. The addition of genetics and CMR led to 101 (28.1%) and 112 (31.1%) proposed changes to management, respectively. Interobserver variability showed moderate agreement with clinical data (κ = 0.44) which improved following the addition of genetics (κ = 0.65) and CMR (κ = 0.68).Conclusion: We demonstrate that genetics and CMR, frequently changed the classification of etiology in DCM, improved confidence and interobserver variability in determining the diagnosis and had an impact on proposed management.
Lota A, Hazebroek M, Theotokis P, et al., 2022, Genetic architecture of acute myocarditis and the overlap with inherited cardiomyopathy, Circulation, Vol: 146, Pages: 1123-1134, ISSN: 0009-7322
Background: Acute myocarditis is an inflammatory condition that may herald the onset of dilated (DCM) or arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM). We investigated the frequency and clinical consequences of DCM and ACM genetic variants in a population-based cohort of patients with acute myocarditis. Methods: Population-based cohort of 336 consecutive patients with acute myocarditis enrolled in London and Maastricht. All participants underwent targeted DNA-sequencing for well-characterised cardiomyopathy-associated genes with comparison to healthy controls (n=1053) sequenced on the same platform. Case ascertainment in England was assessed against national hospital admission data. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Results: Variants that would be considered pathogenic if found in a patient with DCM or ACM were identified in 8% of myocarditis cases compared to <1% of healthy controls (p=0.0097). In the London cohort (n=230; median age 33years; 84% men), patients were representative of national myocarditis admissions (median age 32years; 71% men; 66% case ascertainment), and there was enrichment of rare truncating variants (tv) in ACM-associated genes (3.1% cases vs 0.4% controls; odds ratio 8.2; p=0.001). This was driven predominantly by desmoplakin (DSP)-tv in patients with normal LV ejection fraction and ventricular arrhythmia. In Maastricht (n=106; median age 54years; 61% men), there was enrichment of rare truncating variants in DCM-associated genes, particularly TTN-tv found in 7% (all with LVEF<50%) compared to 1% in controls (OR 3.6; p=0.0116). Across both cohorts over a median of 5.0 years (IQR 3.9-7.8), all-cause mortality was 5.4%. Two thirds of deaths were cardiovascular, due to worsening heart failure (92%) or sudden cardiac death (8%). The 5-year mortality risk was 3.3% in genotype negative patients versus 11.1% for genotype positive patients (Padjusted=0.08). Conclusions: We identified DCM- or ACM-associated genetic variants in 8% of patients wit
Dixon PH, Levine AP, Cebola I, et al., 2022, GWAS meta-analysis of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy implicates multiple hepatic genes and regulatory elements, Nature Communications, Vol: 13, ISSN: 2041-1723
Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a pregnancy-specific liver disorder affecting 0.5–2% of pregnancies. The majority of cases present in the third trimester with pruritus, elevated serum bile acids and abnormal serum liver tests. ICP is associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes, including spontaneous preterm birth and stillbirth. Whilst rare mutations affecting hepatobiliary transporters contribute to the aetiology of ICP, the role of common genetic variation in ICP has not been systematically characterised to date. Here, we perform genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and meta-analyses for ICP across three studies including 1,138 cases and 153,642 controls. Eleven loci achieve genome-wide significance and have been further investigated and fine-mapped using functional genomics approaches. Our results pinpoint common sequence variation in liver-enriched genes and liver-specific cis-regulatory elements as contributing mechanisms to ICP susceptibility.
Reichart D, Lindberg EL, Maatz H, et al., 2022, Pathogenic variants damage cell composition and single-cell transcription in cardiomyopathies, Science, Vol: 377, Pages: 1-13, ISSN: 0036-8075
INTRODUCTIONHuman heart failure is a highly morbid condition that affects 23 million individuals worldwide. It emerges in the setting of an array of different cardiovascular disorders, which has propelled the notion that diverse stimuli converge on a common final pathway. Consistent with this, initiating etiologies do not direct heart failure treatments, which are often inadequate and necessitate mechanical interventions and cardiac transplantation.The recent application of single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNAseq) transcriptional analyses to characterize the cellular composition and molecular states in the healthy adult human heart provides an emerging benchmark by which disease-related changes can be assessed. Moreover, the discovery of human pathogenic variants that cause dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), disorders associated with high rates of heart failure, provides direct opportunities to evaluate whether genotype influences heart failure pathways.RATIONALEA systematic identification of shared and distinct molecules and pathways involved in heart failure is lacking, and knowledge of these fundamental data could propel the development of more effective treatments. To enable these discoveries, we performed snRNAseq of explanted ventricular tissues from 18 healthy donors and 61 heart failure patients. By focusing analyses on multiple samples with pathogenic variants in DCM genes (LMNA, RBM20, and TTN), ACM genes (PKP2), or pathogenic variant–negative (PV negative) samples, we characterized genotype-stratified and common heart failure responses.RESULTSFrom 881,081 nuclei isolated from left and right diseased and healthy ventricles, we identified 10 major cell types and 71 distinct transcriptional states. DCM and ACM tissues showed significant depletion of cardiomyocytes and increased endothelial and immune cells. Fibrosis was expanded in disease hearts, but, unexpectedly, fibroblasts were not increased, and instead showed a
Tayal U, Verdonschot JAJ, Hazebroek MR, et al., 2022, Precision phenotyping of dilated cardiomyopathy using multidimensional data., Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Vol: 79, Pages: 2219-2232, ISSN: 0735-1097
BACKGROUND: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a final common manifestation of heterogenous etiologies. Adverse outcomes highlight the need for disease stratification beyond ejection fraction. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to identify novel, reproducible subphenotypes of DCM using multiparametric data for improved patient stratification. METHODS: Longitudinal, observational UK-derivation (n = 426; median age 54 years; 67% men) and Dutch-validation (n = 239; median age 56 years; 64% men) cohorts of DCM patients (enrolled 2009-2016) with clinical, genetic, cardiovascular magnetic resonance, and proteomic assessments. Machine learning with profile regression identified novel disease subtypes. Penalized multinomial logistic regression was used for validation. Nested Cox models compared novel groupings to conventional risk measures. Primary composite outcome was cardiovascular death, heart failure, or arrhythmia events (median follow-up 4 years). RESULTS: In total, 3 novel DCM subtypes were identified: profibrotic metabolic, mild nonfibrotic, and biventricular impairment. Prognosis differed between subtypes in both the derivation (P < 0.0001) and validation cohorts. The novel profibrotic metabolic subtype had more diabetes, universal myocardial fibrosis, preserved right ventricular function, and elevated creatinine. For clinical application, 5 variables were sufficient for classification (left and right ventricular end-systolic volumes, left atrial volume, myocardial fibrosis, and creatinine). Adding the novel DCM subtype improved the C-statistic from 0.60 to 0.76. Interleukin-4 receptor-alpha was identified as a novel prognostic biomarker in derivation (HR: 3.6; 95% CI: 1.9-6.5; P = 0.00002) and validation cohorts (HR: 1.94; 95% CI: 1.3-2.8; P = 0.00005). CONCLUSIONS: Three reproducible, mechanistically distinct DCM subtypes were identified using widely available clinical and biological data, adding prognostic value to trad
Tayal U, gregson J, Buchan R, et al., 2022, Moderate excess alcohol consumption and adverse cardiac remodelling in dilated cardiomyopathy, Heart, Vol: 108, Pages: 619-625, ISSN: 1355-6037
Objective The effect of moderate excess alcohol consumption is widely debated and has not been well defined in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). There is need for a greater evidence base to help advise patients. We sought to evaluate the effect of moderate excess alcohol consumption on cardiovascular structure, function and outcomes in DCM. Methods Prospective longitudinal observational cohort study. Patients with DCM (n=604) were evaluated for a history of moderate excess alcohol consumption (UK government guidelines; >14 units/week for women, >21 units/week for men) at cohort enrollment, had cardiovascular magnetic resonance and were followed up for the composite endpoint of cardiovascular death, heart failure and arrhythmic events. Patients meeting criteria for alcoholic cardiomyopathy were not recruited. ResultsDCM patients with a history of moderate excess alcohol consumption (n=98, 16%) had lower biventricular function and increased chamber dilatation of the left ventricle, right ventricle and left atrium, as well as increased left ventricular hypertrophy compared to patients without moderate alcohol consumption. They were more likely to be male (alcohol excess group– n =92, 94% vs n =306, 61%, p=<0.001). After adjustment for biological sex, moderate excess alcohol was not associated with adverse cardiac structure. There was no difference in mid-wall myocardial fibrosis between groups. Prior moderate excess alcohol consumption did not affect prognosis (HR 1.29, 0.73 to 2.26, p=0.38) during median follow up of 3.9 years. ConclusionDilated cardiomyopathy patients with moderate excess alcohol consumption have adverse cardiac structure and function at presentation but this is largely due to biological sex. Alcohol may contribute to sex-specific phenotypic differences in DCM. These findings help to inform lifestyle discussions for patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.
Hammersley D, Buchan R, Lota A, et al., 2022, Direct and indirect effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with cardiomyopathy, Open Heart, Vol: 9, Pages: 1-9, ISSN: 2053-3624
Objectives: (i) To evaluate the prevalence and hospitalisation rate of COVID-19 infections amongst patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospital Cardiovascular Research Centre (RBHH CRC) Biobank. (ii) To evaluate the indirect impact of the pandemic on patients with cardiomyopathy through the Heart Hive COVID-19 study. (iii) To assess the impact of the pandemic on national cardiomyopathy-related hospital admissions.Methods: (i) 1,236 patients (703 DCM, 533 HCM) in the RBHH CRC Biobank were assessed for COVID-19 infections and hospitalisations; ii) 207 subjects (131 cardiomyopathy, 76 without heart disease) in the Heart Hive COVID-19 study completed online surveys evaluating physical health, psychological wellbeing, and behavioural adaptations during the pandemic; (iii) 11,447 cardiomyopathy-related hospital admissions across NHS England were studied from NHS Digital Hospital Episode Statistics over 2019-2020. Results: A comparable proportion of patients with cardiomyopathy in the RBHH CRC Biobank had tested positive for COVID-19 compared with the UK population (1.1% vs 1.6%, p=0.14), but a higher proportion of those infected were hospitalised (53.8% vs 16.5%, p=0.002). In the Heart Hive COVID-19 study, more patients with cardiomyopathy felt their physical health had deteriorated due to the pandemic than subjects without heart disease (32.3% vs 13.2%, p=0.004) despite only 4.6% of the cardiomyopathy cohort reporting COVID-19 symptoms. A 17.9% year-on-year reduction in national cardiomyopathy-related hospital admissions was observed in 2020.Conclusion: Patients with cardiomyopathy had similar reported rates of testing positive for COVID-19 to the background population, but those with test-proven infection were hospitalised more frequently. Deterioration in physical health amongst patients could not be explained by COVID-19 symptoms, inferring a significant contribution of the indirect con
Lota AS, Tsao A, Owen R, et al., 2021, Prognostic significance of non-ischaemic patterns of myocardial fibrosis in patients with normal left ventricular volumes and ejection fraction – the FINALIZE study, JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, Vol: 14, Pages: 2353-2365, ISSN: 1876-7591
Background: Non-ischaemic patterns of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) with normal left ventricular volumes and ejection fraction are increasingly detected on cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) but their prognostic significance, and consequently management, is uncertain. Objectives: To investigate the prognostic significance of LGE in patients without coronary artery disease and with normal range LV volumes and ejection fraction. Methods: Patients with mid-wall/subepicardial LGE and normal LV volumes, wall thickness and ejection fraction on CMR were enrolled and compared to a control group without LGE.57 The primary outcome was actual or aborted sudden cardiac death (SCD). Results: Of 748 patients enrolled, 401 had LGE and 347 did not. Median age was 50 years (IQR 38-61), LV ejection fraction 66% (IQR 62-70) and 287 (38%) were women. Scan indications included chest pain (40%), palpitation (33%) and breathlessness (13%). Nopatient experienced SCD and only one LGE+ patient (0.13%) had an aborted SCD in the 11th follow-up year. Over a median of 4.3years, thirty patients (4.0%) died. All-cause mortality was similar for LGE+/- patients (3.7% vs 4.3%; p=0.71) and was associated with age (H 2.04 per 10-years; 95%CI 1.46-2.79; p<0.001). Twenty-one LGE+ and 4 LGE- patients had an unplanned CV hospitalisation (HR 7.22; 95%CI 4.26-21.17; p<0.0001). Conclusion: There was a low SCD risk during long-term follow-up in patients with LGE but otherwise normal LV volumes and ejection fraction. Mortality was driven by age and not LGE presence, location or extent, although the latter was associated with greater CV hospitalisation for suspected myocarditis and symptomatic ventricular tachycardia.
Tayal U, Owen R, Buchan R, et al., 2021, Biological Sex as a Modifier of the Natural History of Dilated Cardiomyopathy, Annual Scientific Sessions of the American-Heart-Association / Resuscitation Science Symposium, Publisher: LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS, ISSN: 0009-7322
Lota AS, Hazebroek M, Theotokis P, et al., 2021, Genetic Overlap of Acute Myocarditis and Inherited Cardiomyopathy, Annual Scientific Sessions of the American-Heart-Association / Resuscitation Science Symposium, Publisher: LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS, ISSN: 0009-7322
Simoes Monteiro de Marvao A, McGurk K, Zheng S, et al., 2021, Phenotypic expression and outcomes in individuals with rare genetic variants of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Vol: 78, Pages: 1097-1110, ISSN: 0735-1097
Background: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is caused by rare variants in sarcomereencoding genes, but little is known about the clinical significance of these variants in thegeneral population.Objectives: To compare lifetime outcomes and cardiovascular phenotypes according to thepresence of rare variants in sarcomere-encoding genes amongst middle-aged adults.Methods: We analysed whole exome sequencing and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR)imaging in UK Biobank participants stratified by sarcomere-encoding variant status.Results: The prevalence of rare variants (allele frequency <0.00004) in HCM-associatedsarcomere-encoding genes in 200,584 participants was 2.9% (n=5,712; 1 in 35), and theprevalence of variants pathogenic or likely pathogenic for HCM (SARC-HCM-P/LP) was0.25% (n=493, 1 in 407). SARC-HCM-P/LP variants were associated with increased risk ofdeath or major adverse cardiac events compared to controls (HR 1.69, 95% CI 1.38 to 2.07,p<0.001), mainly due to heart failure endpoints (HR 4.23, 95% CI 3.07 to 5.83, p<0.001). In21,322 participants with CMR, SARC-HCM-P/LP were associated with asymmetric increasein left ventricular maximum wall thickness (10.9±2.7 vs 9.4±1.6 mm, p<0.001) buthypertrophy (≥13mm) was only present in 18.4% (n=9/49, 95% CI 9 to 32%). SARC-HCMP/LP were still associated with heart failure after adjustment for wall thickness (HR 6.74,95% CI 2.43 to 18.7, p<0.001).Conclusions: In this population of middle-aged adults, SARC-HCM-P/LP variants have lowaggregate penetrance for overt HCM but are associated with increased risk of adversecardiovascular outcomes and an attenuated cardiomyopathic phenotype. Although absoluteevent rates are low, identification of these variants may enhance risk stratification beyondfamilial disease.
de Marvao A, McGurk KA, Zheng SL, et al., 2021, Outcomes and phenotypic expression of rare variants in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy genes amongst UK Biobank participants
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is caused by rare variants in sarcomere-encoding genes, but little is known about the clinical significance of these variants in the general population.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>We compared outcomes and cardiovascular phenotypes in UK Biobank participants with whole exome sequencing stratified by sarcomere-encoding variant status.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>The prevalence of rare variants (allele frequency <0.00004) in HCM-associated sarcomere-encoding genes in 200,584 participants was 2.9% (n=5,727; 1 in 35), of which 0.24% (n=474, 1 in 423) were pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants (SARC-P/LP). SARC-P/LP variants were associated with increased risk of death or major adverse cardiac events compared to controls (HR 1.68, 95% CI 1.37-2.06, p<0.001), mainly due to heart failure (HR 4.40, 95% CI 3.22-6.02, p<0.001) and arrhythmia (HR 1.55, 95% CI 1.18-2.03, p=0.002). In 21,322 participants with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, SARC-P/LP were associated with increased left ventricular maximum wall thickness (10.9±2.7 vs 9.4±1.6 mm, p<0.001) and concentric remodelling (mass/volume ratio: 0.63±0.12 vs 0.58±0.09 g/mL, p<0.001), but hypertrophy (≥13mm) was only present in 16% (n=7/43, 95% CI 7-31%). Other rare sarcomere-encoding variants had a weak effect on wall thickness (9.5±1.7 vs 9.4±1.6 mm, p=0.002) with no combined excess cardiovascular risk (HR 1.00 95% CI 0.92-1.08, p=0.9).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>In the general population, SARC-P/LP variants have low aggregate penetrance for overt HCM bu
Ware J, Tadros R, Francis C, et al., 2021, Shared genetic pathways contribute to risk of hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies with opposite directions of effect, Nature Genetics, Vol: 53, Pages: 128-134, ISSN: 1061-4036
The heart muscle diseases hypertrophic (HCM) and dilated (DCM) cardiomyopathies are leading causes of sudden death and heart failure in young otherwise healthy individuals. We conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and multi-trait analyses in HCM (1,733 cases), DCM (5,521 cases), and nine left ventricular (LV) traits in 19,260 UK Biobank participants with structurally-normal hearts. We identified 16 loci associated with HCM, 13 with DCM, and 23 with LV traits. We show strong genetic correlations between LV traits and cardiomyopathies, with opposing effects in HCM and DCM. Two-sample Mendelian randomization supports a causal association linking increased contractility with HCM risk. A polygenic risk score (PRS) explains a significant portion of phenotypic variability in carriers of HCM-causing rare variants. Our findings thus provide evidence that PRS may account for variability in Mendelian diseases. More broadly, we provide insights into how genetic pathways may lead to distinct disorders through opposing genetic effects.
Zhang X, Walsh R, Whiffin N, et al., 2021, Disease-specific variant pathogenicity prediction significantly improves variant interpretation in inherited cardiac conditions, Genetics in Medicine, Vol: 23, Pages: 69-79, ISSN: 1098-3600
Background: Accurate discrimination of benign and pathogenic rare variation remains a priority for clinical genome interpretation. State-of-the-art machine learning tools are useful for genome-wide variant prioritisation but remain imprecise. Since the relationship between molecular consequence and likelihood of pathogenicity varies between genes with distinct molecular mechanisms, we hypothesised that a disease-specific classifier may outperform existing genome-wide tools. Methods: We present a novel disease-specific variant classification tool, CardioBoost, that estimates the probability of pathogenicity for rare missense variants in inherited cardiomyopathies and arrhythmias, trained with variants of known clinical effect. To benchmark against state-of-the-art genome-wide pathogenicity classification tools, we assessed classification of hold-out test variants using both overall performance metrics, and metrics of high-confidence (>90%) classifications relevant to variant interpretation. We further evaluated the prioritisation of variants associated with disease and patient clinical outcomes, providing validations that are robust to potential mis-classification in gold-standard reference datasets.Results: CardioBoost has higher discriminating power than published genome-wide variant classification tools in distinguishing between pathogenic and benign variants based on overall classification performance measures with the highest area under the Precision-Recall Curve as 91% for cardiomyopathies and as 96% for inherited arrhythmias. When assessed at high-confidence (>90%) classification thresholds, prediction accuracy is improved by at least 120% over existing tools for both cardiomyopathies and arrhythmias, with significantly improved sensitivity and specificity. Finally, CardioBoost improves prioritisation of variants significantly associated with disease, and stratifies survival of patients with cardiomyopathies, confirming biologically relevant vari
Aguib Y, Allouba M, Afify A, et al., 2020, The Egyptian collaborative cardiac genomics (ECCO-GEN) Project: defining a healthy volunteer cohort, npj Genomic Medicine, Vol: 5, Pages: 1-8, ISSN: 2056-7944
The integration of comprehensive genomic and phenotypic data from diverse ethnic populations offers unprecedented opportunities towards advancements in precision medicine and novel diagnostic technologies. Current reference genomic databases are not representative of the global human population, making variant interpretation challenging, especially in underrepresented populations such as the North African population. To address this, the Egyptian Collaborative Cardiac Genomics (ECCO-GEN) Project launched a study comprising 1,000 individuals free of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Here, we present the first 391 Egyptian healthy volunteers (EHVols) recruited to establish a pilot phenotyped control cohort. All individuals underwent detailed clinical investigation, including cardiac MRI, and were sequenced using a targeted panel of 174 genes with reported roles in inherited cardiac conditions (ICC). We identified 1,262 variants in 27 cardiomyopathy genes of which 15.1% were not captured in current global and regional genetic reference databases (here: gnomAD and Great Middle Eastern (GME) Variome). The ECCO-GEN project aims at defining the genetic landscape of an understudied population and providing individual-level genetic and phenotypic data to support future studies in CVD and population genetics.
Pua CJ, Tham N, Chin CW, et al., 2020, Genetic Studies of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy in Singaporeans Identify Variants in TNNI3 and TNNT2 that Are Common in Chinese Patients., Circ Genom Precis Med
Background - To assess the genetic architecture of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in patients of predominantly Chinese ancestry. Methods - We sequenced HCM disease genes in Singaporean patients (n=224) and Singaporean controls (n=3,634), compared findings with additional populations and Caucasian HCM cohorts (n=6,179) and performed in vitro functional studies. Results - Singaporean HCM patients had significantly fewer confidently interpreted HCM disease variants (Pathogenic (P)/Likely Pathogenic (LP):18%, p<0.0001) but an excess of variants of unknown significance (exVUS: 24%, p<0.0001), as compared to Caucasians (P/LP: 31%, exVUS: 7%). Two missense variants in thin filament encoding genes were commonly seen in Singaporean HCM (TNNI3:p.R79C, disease allele frequency (AF)=0.018; TNNT2:p.R286H, disease AF=0.022) and are enriched in Singaporean HCM when compared with Asian controls (TNNI3:p.R79C, Singaporean controls AF=0.0055, p=0.0057, gnomAD-East Asian (gnomAD-EA) AF=0.0062, p=0.0086; TNNT2:p.R286H, Singaporean controls AF=0.0017, p<0.0001, gnomAD-EA AF=0.0009, p<0.0001). Both these variants have conflicting annotations in ClinVar and are of low penetrance (TNNI3:p.R79C, 0.7%; TNNT2:p.R286H, 2.7%) but are predicted to be deleterious by computational tools. In population controls, TNNI3:p.R79C carriers had significantly thicker left ventricular walls compared to non-carriers while its etiological fraction is limited (0.70, 95% CI: 0.35-0.86) and thus TNNI3:p.R79C is considered a VUS. Mutant TNNT2:p.R286H iPSC-CMs show hypercontractility, increased metabolic requirements and cellular hypertrophy and the etiological fraction (0.93, 95% CI: 0.83-0.97) support the likely pathogenicity of TNNT2:p.R286H. Conclusions - As compared to Caucasians, Chinese HCM patients commonly have low penetrance risk alleles in TNNT2 or TNNI3 but exhibit few clinically actionable HCM variants overall. This highlights the need for greater study of HCM genetics in non-Caucasian
Pua CJ, Tham N, Chin CW, et al., 2020, Genetic studies of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in Singaporeans identify variants in TNNI3 and TNNT2 that are common in Chinese patients, Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine, Vol: 13, Pages: 424-434, ISSN: 2574-8300
Background - To assess the genetic architecture of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in patients of predominantly Chinese ancestry.Methods - We sequenced HCM disease genes in Singaporean patients (n=224) and Singaporean controls (n=3,634), compared findings with additional populations and Caucasian HCM cohorts (n=6,179) and performed in vitro functional studies.Results - Singaporean HCM patients had significantly fewer confidently interpreted HCM disease variants (Pathogenic (P)/Likely Pathogenic (LP):18%, p<0.0001) but an excess of variants of unknown significance (exVUS: 24%, p<0.0001), as compared to Caucasians (P/LP: 31%, exVUS: 7%). Two missense variants in thin filament encoding genes were commonly seen in Singaporean HCM (TNNI3:p.R79C, disease allele frequency (AF)=0.018; TNNT2:p.R286H, disease AF=0.022) and are enriched in Singaporean HCM when compared with Asian controls (TNNI3:p.R79C, Singaporean controls AF=0.0055, p=0.0057, gnomAD-East Asian (gnomAD-EA) AF=0.0062, p=0.0086; TNNT2:p.R286H, Singaporean controls AF=0.0017, p<0.0001, gnomAD-EA AF=0.0009, p<0.0001). Both these variants have conflicting annotations in ClinVar and are of low penetrance (TNNI3:p.R79C, 0.7%; TNNT2:p.R286H, 2.7%) but are predicted to be deleterious by computational tools. In population controls, TNNI3:p.R79C carriers had significantly thicker left ventricular walls compared to non-carriers while its etiological fraction is limited (0.70, 95% CI: 0.35-0.86) and thus TNNI3:p.R79C is considered a VUS. Mutant TNNT2:p.R286H iPSC-CMs show hypercontractility, increased metabolic requirements and cellular hypertrophy and the etiological fraction (0.93, 95% CI: 0.83-0.97) support the likely pathogenicity of TNNT2:p.R286H.Conclusions - As compared to Caucasians, Chinese HCM patients commonly have low penetrance risk alleles in TNNT2 or TNNI3 but exhibit few clinically actionable HCM variants overall. This highlights the need for greater study of HCM genetics in non-Caucasian pop
Turro E, Astle WJ, Megy K, et al., 2020, Whole-genome sequencing of patients with rare diseases in a national health system, Nature, Vol: 583, Pages: 96-102, ISSN: 0028-0836
Most patients with rare diseases do not receive a molecular diagnosis and the aetiological variants and causative genes for more than half such disorders remain to be discovered1. Here we used whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in a national health system to streamline diagnosis and to discover unknown aetiological variants in the coding and non-coding regions of the genome. We generated WGS data for 13,037 participants, of whom 9,802 had a rare disease, and provided a genetic diagnosis to 1,138 of the 7,065 extensively phenotyped participants. We identified 95 Mendelian associations between genes and rare diseases, of which 11 have been discovered since 2015 and at least 79 are confirmed to be aetiological. By generating WGS data of UK Biobank participants2, we found that rare alleles can explain the presence of some individuals in the tails of a quantitative trait for red blood cells. Finally, we identified four novel non-coding variants that cause disease through the disruption of transcription of ARPC1B, GATA1, LRBA and MPL. Our study demonstrates a synergy by using WGS for diagnosis and aetiological discovery in routine healthcare.
Allouba M, Aguib Y, Walsh R, et al., 2020, Analysis of HCM in an understudied population reveals a new mechanism of pathogenicity, Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is an inherited disease characterized by genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity. MYH7 represents one of the main sarcomere-encoding genes associated with HCM. Missense variants in this gene cause HCM through gain-of-function actions, whereby variants produce an abnormal activated protein which incorporates into the sarcomere as a "poison peptide". Here we report a frameshift variant in MYH7, c.5769delG, that is associated with HCM in an Egyptian cohort (3.3%) compared with ethnically-matched controls. This variant is absent from previously published large-scale Caucasian HCM cohorts. We further demonstrate strong evidence of co-segregation of c.5769delG with HCM in a large family (LOD score: 3.01). The predicted sequence of the variant MYH7 transcript shows that the frameshift results in a premature termination codon (PTC) downstream of the last exon-exon junction of the gene that is expected to escape nonsense-mediated decay (NMD). RNA sequencing of myocardial tissue obtained from a patient with the variant during surgical myectomy confirmed the expression of the variant MYH7 transcript. Our analysis reveals a new mechanism of pathogenicity in the understudied Egyptian population whereby distal PTC in MYH7 may lead to the expression of an abnormal protein.
Mazzarotto F, Tayal U, Buchan RJ, et al., 2020, Re-evaluating the genetic contribution of monogenic dilated cardiomyopathy, Circulation, Vol: 141, Pages: 387-398, ISSN: 0009-7322
Background: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is genetically heterogeneous, with >100 purported disease genes tested in clinical laboratories. However, many genes were originally identified based on candidate-gene studies that did not adequately account for background population variation. Here we define the frequency of rare variation in 2538 DCM patients across protein-coding regions of 56 commonly tested genes and compare this to both 912 confirmed healthy controls and a reference population of 60,706 individuals in order to identify clinically interpretable genes robustly associated with dominant monogenic DCM.Methods: We used the TruSight Cardio sequencing panel to evaluate the burden of rare variants in 56 putative DCM genes in 1040 DCM patients and 912 healthy volunteers processed with identical sequencing and bioinformatics pipelines. We further aggregated data from 1498 DCM patients sequenced in diagnostic laboratories and the ExAC database for replication and meta-analysis.Results: Truncating variants in TTN and DSP were associated with DCM in all comparisons. Variants in MYH7, LMNA, BAG3, TNNT2, TNNC1, PLN, ACTC1, NEXN, TPM1 and VCL were significantly enriched in specific patient subsets, with the last 2 genes potentially contributing primarily to early-onset forms of DCM. Overall, rare variants in these 12 genes potentially explained 17% of cases in the outpatient clinic cohort representing a broad range of adult DCM patients and 26% of cases in the diagnostic referral cohort enriched in familial and early-onset DCM. Whilst the absence of a significant excess in other genes cannot preclude a limited role in disease, such genes have limited diagnostic value since novel variants will be uninterpretable and their diagnostic yield is minimal.Conclusion: In the largest sequenced DCM cohort yet described, we observe robust disease association with 12 genes, highlighting their importance in DCM and translating into high interpretability in diagnostic testing. The
Walsh R, Mazzarotto F, Whiffin N, et al., 2019, Quantitative approaches to variant classification increase the yield and precision of genetic testing in Mendelian diseases, 52nd Conference of the European-Society-of-Human-Genetics (ESHG), Publisher: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP, Pages: 1720-1720, ISSN: 1018-4813
Garcia-Pavia P, Kim Y, Restrepo-Cordoba MA, et al., 2019, Genetic variants associated with cancer therapy-induced cardiomyopathy, Circulation, Vol: 140, Pages: 31-41, ISSN: 0009-7322
BackgroundCancer therapy-induced cardiomyopathy (CCM) is associated with cumulative drug exposures and pre-existing cardiovascular disorders. These parametersincompletely account for substantial inter-individual susceptibility to CCM. We hypothesized that rare variants in cardiomyopathy genes contribute to CCM.MethodsWe studied 213 CCM patients from three cohorts: retrospectively recruited adults with diverse cancers (n=99), prospectively phenotyped breast cancer adults (n=73) and prospectively phenotyped children with acute myeloid leukemia (n=41). Cardiomyopathy genes, including nine pre-specified genes were sequenced. The prevalence of rare variants was compared between CCM cohorts and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) participants(n=2053), healthy volunteers(n=445), and ancestry-matchedreference population. Clinical characteristics and outcomes were assessed, stratified by genotypes. A prevalent CCM genotype was modeled in anthracycline-treated mice.ResultsCCM was diagnosed 0.4-9 years after chemotherapy; 90% of these patients received anthracyclines. Adult CCM patients had cardiovascular risk factors similar to the U.S. population. Among nine prioritized genes CCM patients had more rare protein-altering variants than comparative cohorts (p≤1.98e-04). Titin-truncating variants (TTNtv) predominated, occurring in 7.5% CCM patients versus 1.1% TCGA participants (p=7.36e-08), 0.7% healthy volunteers (p=3.42e-06), and 0.6% reference population (p=5.87e-14). Adult CCM patients with TTNtv experienced more heart failure and atrial fibrillation (p=0.003)and impaired myocardial recovery (p=0.03) than those without.Consistent with human data, anthracycline-treated TTNtv mice and isolated TTNtv cardiomyocytes showed sustained contractile dysfunction unlike wildtype (p=0.0004 and p<0.002, respectively).ConclusionsUnrecognized rare variants in cardiomyopathy-associated genes, particularly TTNtv, increased the risk for CCM in children and adults, and adverse cardiac events
Thomson KL, Ormondroyd E, Harper AR, et al., 2019, Analysis of 51 proposed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy genes from genome sequencing data in sarcomere negative cases has negligible diagnostic yield, Genetics in Medicine, Vol: 21, Pages: 1576-1584, ISSN: 1098-3600
PURPOSE: Increasing numbers of genes are being implicated in Mendelian disorders and incorporated into clinical test panels. However, lack of evidence supporting the gene-disease relationship can hinder interpretation. We explored the utility of testing 51 additional genes for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), one of the most commonly tested Mendelian disorders. METHODS: Using genome sequencing data from 240 sarcomere gene negative HCM cases and 6229 controls, we undertook case-control and individual variant analyses to assess 51 genes that have been proposed for HCM testing. RESULTS: We found no evidence to suggest that rare variants in these genes are prevalent causes of HCM. One variant, in a single case, was categorized as likely to be pathogenic. Over 99% of variants were classified as a variant of uncertain significance (VUS) and 54% of cases had one or more VUS. CONCLUSION: For almost all genes, the gene-disease relationship could not be validated and lack of evidence precluded variant interpretation. Thus, the incremental diagnostic yield of extending testing was negligible, and would, we propose, be outweighed by problems that arise with a high rate of uninterpretable findings. These findings highlight the need for rigorous, evidence-based selection of genes for clinical test panels.
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