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Genetic variants in TRPM7 associated with unexplained stillbirth modify ion channel function

Cartwright, JH; Aziz, Q; Harmer, SC; Thayyil, S; Tinker, A; Munroe, PB; (2020) Genetic variants in TRPM7 associated with unexplained stillbirth modify ion channel function. Human Molecular Genetics , 29 (11) pp. 1797-1807. 10.1093/hmg/ddz198. Green open access

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Abstract

Stillbirth is the loss of a fetus after 22 weeks of gestation, of which almost half go completely unexplained despite post-mortem. We recently sequenced 35 arrhythmia-associated genes from 70 unexplained stillbirth cases. Our hypothesis was that deleterious mutations in channelopathy genes may have a functional effect in utero that may be pro-arrhythmic in the developing fetus. We observed four heterozygous, nonsynonymous variants in transient receptor potential melastatin 7 (TRPM7), a ubiquitously expressed ion channel known to regulate cardiac development and repolarization in mice. We used site-directed mutagenesis and single-cell patch-clamp to analyze the functional effect of the four stillbirth mutants on TRPM7 ion channel function in heterologous cells. We also used cardiomyocytes derived from human pluripotent stem cells to model the contribution of TRPM7 to action potential morphology. Our results show that two TRPM7 variants, p.G179V and p.T860M, lead to a marked reduction in ion channel conductance. This observation was underpinned by a lack of measurable TRPM7 protein expression, which in the case of p.T860M was due to rapid proteasomal degradation. We also report that human hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes possess measurable TRPM7 currents; however, siRNA knockdown did not directly affect action potential morphology. TRPM7 variants found in the unexplained stillbirth population adversely affect ion channel function and this may precipitate fatal arrhythmia in utero.

Type: Article
Title: Genetic variants in TRPM7 associated with unexplained stillbirth modify ion channel function
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddz198
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddz198
Language: English
Additional information: This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > The Ear Institute
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Medicine
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10106856
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