Why the study?
Multiple pathogenic desmosomal variants in ARVC are linked to severe phenotypes, but variant pathogenicity is reclassified frequently, potentially altering clinical risk prediction.
Does carrying multiple reclassified pathogenic desmosomal gene variants worsen the composite outcome of arrhythmias, heart failure, and death in ARVC patients?
Does carrying multiple reclassified pathogenic desmosomal gene variants worsen the composite outcome of arrhythmias, heart failure, and death in ARVC patients?
Periodic reclassification of desmosomal gene variants in ARVC patients is crucial, as true carriers of multiple pathogenic variants have a significantly earlier onset of life-threatening arrhythmias and heart failure.
Variant reclassification may alter ARVC risk estimates in multi-variant carriers; leaves open need for standardized re-evaluation protocols.
The presence of multiple pathogenic variants in desmosomal genes (DSC2, DSG2, DSP, JUP, and PKP2) in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) has been linked to a severe phenotype. However, the pathogenicity of variants is reclassified frequently, which may result in a changed clinical risk prediction. Here, we present the collection, reclassification, and clinical outcome correlation for the largest series of ARVC patients carrying multiple desmosomal pathogenic variants to date (n = 331). After reclassification, only 29% of patients remained carriers of two (likely) pathogenic variants. They reached the composite endpoint (ventricular arrhythmias, heart failure, and death) significantly earlier than patients with one or no remaining reclassified variant (hazard ratios of 1.9 and 1.8, respectively). Periodic reclassification of variants contributes to more accurate risk stratification and subsequent clinical management strategy.
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Nagyova et al. (2023) studied this question.
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