Genetic Variants in the Extracellular Matrix Gene TNXB Predicted to Alter Fibronectin III Domains in Arterial Aneurysmal and Dissection Diseases.

Abstract

Arterial aneurysms are vascular conditions associated with life-threatening consequences in patients, such as dissection and rupture. Understanding their genetic basis is an evolving field, driven by the robust reporting of genetic variants associated with aneurysms in patients. In this study, we present clinical and genetic data from nine unrelated subjects with arterial aneurysms who were identified to harbor rare variants in the TNXB gene, mainly affecting fibronectin type III (FNIII) domains. The cohort included three female and six male subjects with a mean age of 53.5 years (SD = 14.4). The most frequently affected vascular territory was the thoracic ascending aorta (n = 7). A range of pathogenic impacts was predicted via multiple in silico tools that analyze evolutionary conservation and biochemical properties. Computational protein structure modeling with AlphaFold 3 predicted domain-specific alterations across multiple FNIII regions for four unique missense variants and one in-frame deletion, and premature protein truncation resulting from two frameshift variants. To our knowledge, this study is one of the first and largest to associate TNXB variants with arterial aneurysmal disease. Our findings demonstrate the potential of computational genomics and structural modeling to advance the understanding of extracellular matrix gene alterations in aneurysm pathogenesis.