Gene Variants' Impact on Sudden Cardiac Death

February 16, 2009 (Baltimore, Maryland) — A combined analysis of two long-term cohort studies has confirmed an association between variants in the nitric oxide synthase 1 adaptor protein (NOS1AP) gene and the QT interval on ECG in white adults, and has shown that two of these variations are associated with the risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) [1]. The report, by Dr WH Linda Kao(Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD) and colleagues, was published online February 9, 2009 in Circulation.

The research builds on previous work by this team, published almost three years ago and reported by heartwire at that time, in which a genome-wide association study in subjects with long and short QT intervals identified NOS1AP--which was not previously known to modulate cardiac repolarization--as a candidate gene for abnormal QT intervals.

"It's clear now that NOS1AP is a major risk factor for sudden cardiac death," senior author DrAravinda Chakravarti (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD) told heartwire. "Furthermore, its effects on SCD are partly mediated by elongation of the QT interval and partly by other factors that we don't understand. So some parts of its effects are QT-dependent and some are QT-independent."

Details at : http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/588346?sssdmh=dm1.432287&src=nldne