TY - JOUR
T1 - No major role for rare plectin variants in arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy
AU - Hoorntje, Edgar T.
AU - Posafalvi, Anna
AU - Syrris, Petros
AU - Van Der Velde, K. Joeri
AU - Bolling, Marieke C.
AU - Protonotarios, Alexandros
AU - Boven, Ludolf G.
AU - Amat-Codina, Nuria
AU - Groeneweg, Judith A.
AU - Wilde, Arthur A.
AU - Sobreira, Nara
AU - Calkins, Hugh
AU - Hauer, Richard N.W.
AU - Jonkman, Marcel F.
AU - McKenna, William J.
AU - Elliott, Perry M.
AU - Sinke, Richard J.
AU - Van Den Berg, Maarten P.
AU - Chelko, Stephen P.
AU - James, Cynthia A.
AU - Van Tintelen, J. Peter
AU - Judge, Daniel P.
AU - Jongbloed, Jan D.H.
PY - 2018/8/1
Y1 - 2018/8/1
N2 - Aims Likely pathogenic/pathogenic variants in genes encoding desmosomal proteins play an important role in the pathophysiology of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). However, for a substantial proportion of ARVC patients, the genetic substrate remains unknown. We hypothesized that plectin, a cytolinker protein encoded by the PLEC gene, could play a role in ARVC because it has been proposed to link the desmosomal protein desmoplakin to the cytoskeleton and therefore has a potential function in the desmosomal structure. Methods We screened PLEC in 359 ARVC patients and compared the frequency of rare coding PLEC variants (minor allele frequency [MAF] <0.001) between patients and controls. To assess the frequency of rare variants in the control population, we evaluated the rare coding variants (MAF <0.001) found in the European cohort of the Exome Aggregation Database. We further evaluated plectin localization by immunofluorescence in a subset of patients with and without a PLEC variant. Results Forty ARVC patients carried one or more rare PLEC variants (11%, 40/359). However, rare variants also seem to occur frequently in the control population (18%, 4754/26197 individuals). Nor did we find a difference in the prevalence of rare PLEC variants in ARVC patients with or without a desmosomal likely pathogenic/pathogenic variant (14% versus 8%, respectively). However, immunofluorescence analysis did show decreased plectin junctional localization in myocardial tissue from 5 ARVC patients with PLEC variants. Conclusions Although PLEC has been hypothesized as a promising candidate gene for ARVC, our current study did not show an enrichment of rare PLEC variants in ARVC patients compared to controls and therefore does not support a major role for PLEC in this disorder. Although rare PLEC variants were associated with abnormal localization in cardiac tissue, the confluence of data does not support a role for plectin abnormalities in ARVC development.
AB - Aims Likely pathogenic/pathogenic variants in genes encoding desmosomal proteins play an important role in the pathophysiology of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). However, for a substantial proportion of ARVC patients, the genetic substrate remains unknown. We hypothesized that plectin, a cytolinker protein encoded by the PLEC gene, could play a role in ARVC because it has been proposed to link the desmosomal protein desmoplakin to the cytoskeleton and therefore has a potential function in the desmosomal structure. Methods We screened PLEC in 359 ARVC patients and compared the frequency of rare coding PLEC variants (minor allele frequency [MAF] <0.001) between patients and controls. To assess the frequency of rare variants in the control population, we evaluated the rare coding variants (MAF <0.001) found in the European cohort of the Exome Aggregation Database. We further evaluated plectin localization by immunofluorescence in a subset of patients with and without a PLEC variant. Results Forty ARVC patients carried one or more rare PLEC variants (11%, 40/359). However, rare variants also seem to occur frequently in the control population (18%, 4754/26197 individuals). Nor did we find a difference in the prevalence of rare PLEC variants in ARVC patients with or without a desmosomal likely pathogenic/pathogenic variant (14% versus 8%, respectively). However, immunofluorescence analysis did show decreased plectin junctional localization in myocardial tissue from 5 ARVC patients with PLEC variants. Conclusions Although PLEC has been hypothesized as a promising candidate gene for ARVC, our current study did not show an enrichment of rare PLEC variants in ARVC patients compared to controls and therefore does not support a major role for PLEC in this disorder. Although rare PLEC variants were associated with abnormal localization in cardiac tissue, the confluence of data does not support a role for plectin abnormalities in ARVC development.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/%2085052835943
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0203078
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0203078
M3 - Article
C2 - 30161220
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 13
JO - PLoS ONE [E]
JF - PLoS ONE [E]
IS - 8
M1 - e0203078
ER -