Background: The genetic basis of most congenital heart defects (CHDs), especially non-syndromic and non-familial conditions, remains largely unknown.
Methods and results: DNA samples were collected from immortalized cell lines and original genomes of 256 non-syndromic, non-familial patients with cardiac outflow tract (OFT) defects. Genes encoding NKX2.5, GATA4, GATA6, MEF2C, and ISL1, essential for heart development, were analyzed using PCR-based bidirectional sequencing. The transcriptional activity of proteins with identified sequence variations was analyzed using a luciferase assay. A novel sequence variant (A103V in MEF2C) was identified, in addition to 4 unreported non-synonymous sequence variants in 3 known causative genes (A6V in NKX2.5, T330R and S339R in GATA4, and E142K in GATA6) in 5 individuals. None of these was found in 500 controls without CHDs. In vitro functional assay showed that all proteins with identified sequence variations exhibited significant changes in transcriptional activity and/or synergistic activity with other transcription factors. Furthermore, overexpression of the A103V MEF2C variant in a fish system disturbed early cardiac development.
Conclusions: New mutations in the transcription factors NKX2.5, GATA4, GATA6, and MEF2C that affect their protein function were identified in 2.3% (6/256) of patients with OFT defects. Our results provide the first demonstration of MEF2C mutation and suggest that disturbances in the regulatory circuits involving these cardiac transcription factors may cause a subset of non-syndromic and non-familial CHDs.