子どもの心筋炎に関する遺伝的要因を特定(Study: A genetic variant may be the reason why some children with myocarditis develop heart failure)

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2025-12-05 バッファロー大学(UB)

ニューヨーク州立大学バッファロー校(UB)の研究チームは、小児の心筋炎が重症化して心不全に至る背景には遺伝的要因が大きく関与していることを明らかにした。研究では、小児心筋炎患者の遺伝子解析を行い、心筋構造維持や細胞内シグナル伝達に関連する遺伝子の変異が、重度の心機能障害や回復遅延と強く関連することを発見した。これまで小児心筋炎は主にウイルス感染による急性炎症が原因と考えられてきたが、臨床経過の個人差を説明する上で宿主側の遺伝的脆弱性が重要な役割を果たす可能性が示された。研究者らは今後、遺伝子変異の有無によって治療方針を最適化する**個別化医療(precision medicine)**の展開が期待できるとしている。また、早期に遺伝学的リスクを把握することで、心不全進行の予測や治療介入の迅速化が可能となる。研究成果は、小児心疾患の理解と診療向上に大きく貢献すると考えられる。

子どもの心筋炎に関する遺伝的要因を特定(Study: A genetic variant may be the reason why some children with myocarditis develop heart failure)

<関連情報>

小児心筋炎における心筋症関連病原性変異:小児心筋症レジストリからの研究 Cardiomyopathy-Associated Pathogenic Variants in Pediatric Myocarditis: A Study From the Pediatric Cardiomyopathy Registry

Alicia M. Kamsheh, MD, MSCE, Stephanie M. Ware, MD, PhD, Surbhi Bhatnagar, PhD, Lisa J. Martin, PhD, Teresa M. Lee, MD, MS, Jeffrey A. Towbin, MD, Paul F. Kantor, MBBCh, … ,and Steven E. Lipshultz, MD
Circulation: Heart Failure  Published: 5 December 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.125.013104

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Studies have demonstrated that patients with myocarditis may have a higher burden of cardiomyopathy-associated genetic variants than the general population. However, data on children are limited. We compared the prevalence of rare predicted-damaging variants and clinically pathogenic variants in children with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) secondary to myocarditis with that in children with DCM alone and in heart-healthy controls.

METHODS:

Children with DCM secondary to myocarditis and children with DCM alone who underwent exome sequencing as part of a prior cross-sectional study were identified in the Pediatric Cardiomyopathy Registry, a large multicenter registry of children with cardiomyopathy. Controls from the Indiana University Biobank were matched 4:1 with myocarditis cases on genomic similarity. Rare predicted-damaging variants in cardiomyopathy-associated genes were identified using a bioinformatics approach. Clinical guidelines were used to determine clinical pathogenicity. The prevalence of variants was compared across the 3 groups.

RESULTS:

There were 32 patients with DCM secondary to myocarditis. The prevalence of rare predicted-damaging variants was 34.4% (11/32 [95% CI, 18.6%–53.2%]) in cases compared with 6.3% (8/128 [95% CI, 2.7%–11.9%]) in controls (P<0.001). Clinical review indicated all rare predicted-damaging variants in cases were pathogenic (1/12), likely pathogenic (3/12), or variants of uncertain significance (8/12), whereas most variants in controls were benign (2/8) or likely benign (4/8). The prevalence of pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants in cases was 12.5% (95% CI, 3.5%–29.0%) compared with 0% (95% CI, 0%–2.3%) in controls (P<0.01). Rare predicted-damaging and clinically pathogenic/likely pathogenic variant prevalence was not significantly different in children with DCM secondary to myocarditis and DCM without myocarditis (P=0.17 and P=1.00, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS:

Children with DCM secondary to myocarditis had a higher burden of variants in cardiomyopathy-associated genes than that of heart-healthy controls. Larger studies will be needed to determine the utility of routine genetic testing in this population.

医療・健康
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