一个由德国科学家领导的国际研究小组21日宣布，他们发现了一种会大大增加心房纤颤（房颤）风险的基因。
这项研究由德国慕尼黑大学、亥姆霍兹慕尼黑中心和美国马萨诸塞州综合医院等50多个机构参与。研究人员对1335名没有其他心脏疾病的所谓孤立性房颤患者和一万多名健康人的基因组进行了比较分析，最终发现会明显增加房颤风险的KCNN3基因。
研究人员发现，该基因参与影响心脏起搏的一种钾通道的合成。研究人员说，根据这一特点，将来可研发专门对这种钾通道发生作用的新药物，以纠正心脏起搏的失调。此外，研究人员还希望这一成果能帮助预测个人罹患房颤的风险。
该研究成果已发表在英国《自然·遗传学》杂志网络版上。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Nature Genetics 21 February 2010 | doi:10.1038/ng.537
Common variants in KCNN3 are associated with lone atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia. Previous studies have identified several genetic loci associated with typical AF. We sought to identify common genetic variants underlying lone AF. This condition affects a subset of individuals without overt heart disease and with an increased heritability of AF. We report a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies conducted using 1,335 individuals with lone AF (cases) and 12,844 unaffected individuals (referents). Cases were obtained from the German AF Network, Heart and Vascular Health Study, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, the Cleveland Clinic and Massachusetts General Hospital. We identified an association on chromosome 1q21 to lone AF (rs13376333, adjusted odds ratio = 1.56; P = 6.3 × 10?12), and we replicated this association in two independent cohorts with lone AF (overall combined odds ratio = 1.52, 95% CI 1.40–1.64; P = 1.83 × 10?21). rs13376333 is intronic to KCNN3, which encodes a potassium channel protein involved in atrial repolarization.
