Variation p.R1045H in MYH7 correlated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in a Chinese pedigree

BACKGROUND: Inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common heart muscle disease that damages heart function and may cause the heart to suddenly stop beating. Genetic factors play an important role in HCM. Pedigree analysis is a good way to identify the genetic defects that cause disease. METHODS: An HCM pedigree was determined in Yunnan, China. Whole-exome sequencing was performed to identify the genetic variants of HCM. Another 30 HCM patients and 200 healthy controls were also used to investigate the frequency of the variants by customized TaqMan genotyping assay. RESULTS: The variant NM_000257.4:c.3134G > A (NP_000248.2:p.Arg1045His, rs397516178, c.3134G > A in short) was found to cosegregate with the clinical phenotype of HCM. Moreover, the variant was not found in the 200 control subjects. After genotyping the variant in 30 HCM patients, there was one patient who carried the variant and had a family history. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that this variant may be closely related to the occurrence of the disease. According the ACMG guidelines, the c.3134G > A variant should be classified as "Likely pathogenic".