The contribution of RBM20 truncating variants to human cardiomyopathy

Abstract

Background: Genetic diagnosis has become increasingly important to guide clinical decision making for patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Disease-causing (P/LP) missense variants in the gene RBM20 cause a highly penetrant arrhythmogenic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), but the role of truncating RBM20 variants ( RBM20tvs ) is unclear.

Objective: Assess the contribution of RBM20tvs to DCM.

Methods: We assembled an international cohort of DCM patients with RBM20 variants and used data from the genome-first UK Biobank (UKB) to assess the etiologic fraction, natural history and penetrance of RBM20tvs .

Results: The etiologic fraction of RBM20tvs in arrhythmogenic DCM was modest (0.53[0.32,0.67], p=7.5×10 ^-5 ). RBM20tv DCM patients presented to referral centers later in life than RBM20 P/LP DCM patients (53±10 vs. 34±18 years, p=4×10 ^-3 ), and were less likely to have a family history of sudden cardiac arrest (20% vs. 65%, p= 0.046) or cardiomyopathy (20% vs. 78% p=5.4×10 ^-3 ). There was no significant difference in age- and sex-adjusted incident major heart failure or arrhythmia events between RBM20tv and RBM20 P/LP DCM patients, though sex-adjusted lifetime hazard was reduced in RBM20tv DCM (HR 0.15[0.03,0.66],p=0.009). In UKB, lifetime incidence of cardiomyopathy, heart failure, or major ventricular arrhythmia diagnosis was lower in participants with RBM20tvs than in those with TTNtvs (HR 0.55 [0.36,0.84], p=5.9×10 ^-3 ).

Conclusions: RBM20tvs contribute to arrhythmogenic DCM phenotypes, but confer milder disease severity alone than RBM20 P/LP variants, and reduced lifetime disease penetrance compared to TTNtvs . Their potential for additive interactions with other damaging variants should be considered in DCM patients and families.