Project description:To date, KCNH2 mutations identified in LQT2 patients have been heavily studied by heterologous expression systems, allowing for pathogenicity evaluation of a certain hERG mutation by overexpressing mutant channels. However, they fall short in mimicking the full spectrum of electrophysiological changes and ion channel remodeling that occur in cardiomyocytes under physiological conditions in the context of LQT. Due to the marked differences in the lifespan, size, anatomy and physiology from humans, current zebrafish and rodent models cannot fully mimic the abnormal QT interval diseases 2. For instance, rodents exhibit an extremely higher heart rate and a much shorter action potential duration (APD) compared to humans. IKr is the predominant repolarizing current in human ventricles while inhibition of IKr in rodents has no significant effect on ventricular repolarization, making it infeasible to study LQT2 by genetic mouse model 3. Hence, there is a crucial need to construct an animal model capable of mimicking human inherited arrhythmia conditions. To address the above scientific question, we chose to create a miniature pig model. Given many physiological similarities with humans, and breeding and genome editing advantages (when compared to non-human primates), To explore the mechanism underlying mutation of KCNH2 caused LQT, we compared the transcriptomes of KCNH2-mut pigs and WT controls
Project description:The voltage gated potassium ion channel KV11.1 plays a critical role in cardiac repolarization. Genetic variants that render Kv11.1 dysfunctional cause Long QT Syndrome (LQTS), which is associated with fatal arrhythmias. Approximately 90% of LQTS-associated variants cause intracellular protein transport (trafficking) dysfunction, which can be rescued by pharmacological chaperones like E-4031. Protein folding and trafficking decisions are regulated by chaperones, protein quality control factors, and trafficking machinery comprising the cellular proteostasis network. Here, we test whether trafficking dysfunction is associated with alterations in the proteostasis network of pathogenic Kv11.1 variants, and whether pharmacological chaperones can normalize the proteostasis network of responsive variants.
Project description:Our goal is to identify high-confidence candidate genes associated with sub-threshold QT interval loci. We predicted enhancer-promoter targets using two different methods.
Project description:BackgroundIncreased variability of QT interval (QTV) has been linked to arrhythmias in animal experiments and multiple clinical situations. Congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS), a pure repolarization disease, may provide important information on the relationship between delayed repolarization and QTV.Methods and resultsTwenty-four-hour Holter monitor tracings from 78 genotyped congenital LQTS patients (52 females; 51 LQT1, 23 LQT2, 2 LQT5, 2 JLN, 27 symptomatic; age, 35.2±12.3 years) were evaluated with computer-assisted annotation of RR and QT intervals. Several models of RR-QT relationship were tested in all patients. A model assuming exponential decrease of past RR interval contributions to QT duration with 60-second time constant provided the best data fit. This model was used to calculate QTc and residual "intrinsic" QTV, which cannot be explained by heart rate change. The intrinsic QTV was higher in patients with long QTc (r=0.68; P<10(-4)), and in LQT2 than in LQT1/5 patients (5.65±1.28 vs 4.46±0.82; P<0.0002). Both QTc and intrinsic QTV were similar in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients (467±52 vs 459±53 ms and 5.10±1.19 vs 4.74±1.09, respectively).ConclusionsIn LQTS patients, QT interval adaptation to heart rate changes occurs with time constant ?60 seconds, similar to results reported in control subjects. Intrinsic QTV correlates with the degree of repolarization delay and might reflect action potential instability observed in animal models of LQTS.
Project description:Our goal is to identify high-confidence candidate genes associated with sub-threshold QT interval loci. We predicted enhancer-promoter targets using two different methods. 1) We used the correlation in activity between enhancers and transcribed genes across 59 human cell lines and tissues to identify significantly correlated enhancer-promoter pairs that represent potential regulatory interactions. 2) We used chromosome conformation capture followed by high-throughput sequencing (4C-seq) to probe physical enhancer-promoter interactions.
Project description:BackgroundThe QT interval is a risk marker for cardiac events such as torsades de pointes. However, QT measurements obtained from a 12-lead ECG during clinic hours may not capture the full extent of a patient's daily QT range.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of 24-hour Holter ECG recording in patients with long QT syndrome (LQTS) to identify dynamic changes in the heart rate-corrected QT interval and to investigate methods of visualizing the resulting datasets.MethodsBeat-to-beat QTc (Bazett) intervals were automatically measured across 24-hour Holter recordings from 202 LQTS type 1, 89 type 2, and 14 type 3 genotyped patients and a reference group of 200 healthy individuals. We measured the percentage of beats with QTc greater than the gender-specific threshold (QTc ≥470 ms in women and QTc ≥450 ms in men). The percentage of beats with QTc prolongation was determined across the 24-hour recordings.ResultsBased on the median percentage of heartbeats per patient with QTc prolongation, LQTS type 1 patients showed more frequent QTc prolongation during the day (~3 PM) than they did at night (~3 AM): 97% vs 48%, P ~10(-4) for men, and 68% vs 30%, P ~10(-5) for women. LQTS type 2 patients showed less frequent QTc prolongation during the day compared to nighttime: 87% vs 100%, P ~10(-4) for men, and 62% vs 100%, P ~10(-3) for women.ConclusionIn patients with genotype-positive LQTS, significant differences exist in the degree of daytime and nocturnal QTc prolongation. Holter monitoring using the "QT clock" concept may provide an easy, fast, and accurate method for assessing the true personalized burden of QTc prolongation.