Missense variants in plakophilin-2 in arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy patients--disease-causing or innocent bystanders?

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Objectives: Mutations in genes encoding desmosomal proteins have been linked to arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia (ARVC/D). We hypothesized that a Scandinavian ARVC/D population would have a different spectrum of plakophilin-2 (PKP2) mutations and that some of the reported missense mutations may not be pathogenic. Methods: We screened 53 unrelated patients fulfilling Task Force criteria for ARVC/D for mutations in PKP2 by direct sequencing. Results: Seven different mutations were identified: two insertion/deletions (E329fsX352, P401fsX406), 1 splice site (2146-2A>T), 1 non-sense (R79X) and 4 missense mutations (Q62K in 2 patients, G489R, G673V) of undeterminable pathogeneity. None of these mutations was present in 650 controls. Five of the mutations were novel. Seven patients carried reported missense mutations (D26N, S140F, V587I); however, these mutations were identified in our healthy controls, although at a lower frequency. Evaluation of all reported missense mutations in PKP2 showed unclear pathogeneity of several reported mutations. Conclusions: Fifteen percent of Danish ARVC/D patients carried PKP2 mutations. Our finding of reported disease-causing mutations at a low frequency among healthy controls suggests that these variants are disease modifying but not directly disease causing. We recommend conservative interpretation of missense variants in PKP2, functional characterization and large-scale sequencing to clarify normal variation in the gene.
Original languageEnglish
JournalCardiology
Volume115
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)148-54
Number of pages7
ISSN0008-6312
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2010

Bibliographical note

Keywords: Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia; Case-Control Studies; Conserved Sequence; Denmark; Evolution, Molecular; Female; Genotype; Humans; Male; Mutation, Missense; Phenotype; Plakophilins; Sequence Alignment; Sequence Analysis, DNA

ID: 21258819