Probing Phenotype-Genotype Relations After Whole Genome Sequencing in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Most cases of atrial fibrillation (AF) arise from a combination of clinical risk factors and genetic susceptibility. Moreover, it has recently become clear that AF can be the earliest manifestation of rare high effect size variants associated with potentially fatal cardiac channelopathies or cardiomyopathies (CM). When inherited arrhythmia/CM syndromes are suspected, current guidelines recommend genetic testing to enable early detection and reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death. However, current guidelines specifically state that genetic testing should not ordinarily be performed in patients presenting with AF alone. Thus, major knowledge gaps are how to identify those patients in whom AF is the first sign that they possess a potentially serious underlying genetic disease and what is the cardiac phenotype and clinical significance of those rare genetic variants. We are now in a position to address these issues using the NHLBI’s Trans-omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) and NHGRI’s Centers for Common Disease Genomics (CCDG) resources. TOPMed has performed whole genome sequencing (WGS) and CCDG has performed whole exome sequencing (WES) in large numbers of subjects with common cardiovascular diseases. Currently, this includes 2,852 participants with early onset AF (age <60 years, a group in which genetic factors may play an especially important role) from Vanderbilt (Vanderbilt TOPMed AF Cohort=1,161, Vanderbilt CCDG AF Cohort=1,691). These participants were recruited from Vanderbilt AF registries and have consented for potential recontact. To create a more diverse cohort, an additional 200 African Americans with early onset AF will be prospectively recruited from Meharry Medical College. Using these resources, Aim 1 will perform deep phenotyping to define the cardiac phenotype of AF patients with a pathogenic or likely pathogenic (P/LP) rare variant associated with an inherited cardiomyopathy (CM) syndrome (e.g. arrhythmogenic CM, hypertrophic CM, dilated CM; Aim 1A) or inherited arrhythmia syndrome (e.g. Brugada Syndrome, Long QT Syndrome; Aim 1B) and compared to controls. Participants from these defined genetic subgroups and controls will be recruited for an outpatient research visit to undergo a cardiac MRI, rest/stress/signal-averaged ECGs, and cardiac monitoring. If an inherited arrhythmia/CM syndrome is diagnosed, guideline-directed changes to medical care will be recommended. Aim 2 will create a prediction tool using clinical risk factors ± an AF polygenic risk score to identify patients with AF who have a P/LP rare genetic variant and therefore should undergo genetic testing. While advances in sequencing technology have improved the understanding of how rare and common genetic variation contributes to AF susceptibility, the phenotype of AF genetic subgroups remains incompletely defined. If genetic testing for AF is to add therapeutic value, our work to identify who should be tested and define the clinical implications of these results in a broad AF population is needed.