{"title":"Understanding inherited cardiomyopathies: clinical aspects and genetic determinants.","authors":"Gökhan Yigit, Silke Kaulfuß, Bernd Wollnik","doi":"10.1515/medgen-2025-2007","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cardiomyopathies (CMs) are a clinically heterogeneous group of cardiovascular diseases characterized by structural and functional abnormalities of the heart muscle in the absence of coronary artery disease, hypertension, valve disease, or congenital heart disease as a leading cause. The phenotypic spectrum of CMs ranges from silent heart failure to symptomatic heart failure and sudden cardiac death, and CMs are one of the leading causes of cardiovascular morbidity worldwide. CMs are highly heritable, although a clear distinction between inherited and acquired forms remains challenging, particularly due to observed incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity of inherited CMs. Based on their specific morphological phenotypes and functional characteristics, CMs can be divided into at least 5 different subgroups: hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM), and (left ventricular) non-compaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC), which show both clinical as well as genetic overlap. Since the identification of pathogenic variants in <i>MYH7</i> as a genetic cause of HCM in 1990, enormous progress has been made in understanding genetic factors contributing to cardiomyopathies. Currently, over 100 genes have been associated with at least one of the CM subtypes, providing a deeper understanding of the cellular basis of genetic heart failure syndromes, unveiling new insights into the molecular biology of heart function in both health and disease, and, thereby, facilitating the development of novel therapeutic strategies and personalized treatment approaches.</p>","PeriodicalId":51130,"journal":{"name":"Medizinische Genetik","volume":"37 2","pages":"103-111"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11976403/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Medizinische Genetik","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1515/medgen-2025-2007","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/6/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Cardiomyopathies (CMs) are a clinically heterogeneous group of cardiovascular diseases characterized by structural and functional abnormalities of the heart muscle in the absence of coronary artery disease, hypertension, valve disease, or congenital heart disease as a leading cause. The phenotypic spectrum of CMs ranges from silent heart failure to symptomatic heart failure and sudden cardiac death, and CMs are one of the leading causes of cardiovascular morbidity worldwide. CMs are highly heritable, although a clear distinction between inherited and acquired forms remains challenging, particularly due to observed incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity of inherited CMs. Based on their specific morphological phenotypes and functional characteristics, CMs can be divided into at least 5 different subgroups: hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM), and (left ventricular) non-compaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC), which show both clinical as well as genetic overlap. Since the identification of pathogenic variants in MYH7 as a genetic cause of HCM in 1990, enormous progress has been made in understanding genetic factors contributing to cardiomyopathies. Currently, over 100 genes have been associated with at least one of the CM subtypes, providing a deeper understanding of the cellular basis of genetic heart failure syndromes, unveiling new insights into the molecular biology of heart function in both health and disease, and, thereby, facilitating the development of novel therapeutic strategies and personalized treatment approaches.
期刊介绍:
medizinischegenetik is a scientific journal that is owned and published by the German Society of Human Genetics e.V. since 1989. The journal was founded by Prof. Jan Murken, München. Self-published until 2006, from 2007-2019 published at Springer Verlag and since 2020 at De Gruyter.
medizinischegenetik serves education and training among colleagues, the interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge in all areas of human genetics in clinics, practice, research and teaching. Each issue of the quarterly journal deals with a focus that provides a comprehensive overview of current developments in specific clinical pictures, technical developments and therapeutic approaches. All reviews are written in English language. The journal thus creates a platform for the international exchange of knowledge and increased awareness of German research activities in the scientific community.
In addition, medizinischegenetik contains information on activities in its own subject in the German-language section. This includes conference reports, association announcements, personnel matters, statements and guidelines. With health policy questions, historical retrospectives and comments on current developments, the profession takes a stand on human genetic issues in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.