Description

There is a growing appreciation for the role that genetics play in the development of cardiomyopathy, which can lead to heart failure, arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death.

Increased use of genetic testing has identified numerous gene variants, which cause cardiomyopathy with dilated, hypertrophic, restrictive, non-dilated left ventricular and arrhythmogenic right ventricular phenotypes described.

Some gene variants cause a rapidly progressive cardiomyopathy with high rates of heart failure and cardiac transplantation, while others present with SCD, meaning that genotype-specific risk stratification and clinical surveillance is urgently needed. Some gene-positive individuals will never develop cardiomyopathy due to variable penetrance. At present, we cannot distinguish between these patients and therefore rely on expensive and labour-intensive surveillance by electrocardiography, echocardiography and sometimes cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. For every gene-positive affected individual with cardiomyopathy, cascade genetic testing will identify other gene-positive family members who are often asymptomatic and may not yet be affected.

A blood or urine-based biomarker that identifies pre-clinical disease or cardiomyopathy would allow for more efficient monitoring of gene positive people and could replace multiple, repeated electrocardiograms, echocardiograms and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging scans. A biomarker that accurately identifies pre-clinical cardiomyopathy could enable targeted early treatment. A biomarker that predicts future disease progression would be of high clinical value.