A maiden report on CRELD1 single-nucleotide polymorphism association in congenital heart disease patients of Mysore, South India

Abstract

Cardiac malformations contribute greatly to cardiovascular disease in the young, constituting a major portion of clinically significant birth defects. Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) is a common congenital cardiac birth defect, affecting nearly 1% of all live births. Although significant advances have been made in understanding mechanisms controlling heart formation, the causes of most CHD in humans remain undefined in the vast majority of cases. Of the several genes identified for CHD, CRELD1 is an important cell adhesion molecule crucial in cardiac development, which is known to cause atrioventricular septal defect in Down syndrome and also in sporadic forms of atrioventricular septal defect. With informed consent, 100 clinically diagnosed CHD patients and 50 healthy controls in Mysore, South India, were recruited for Single-nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) genotyping. MassARRAY analysis of five prominent SNPs of CRELD1 was performed. The analysis revealed the occurrence of the SNP c.985 C>T of CRELD1 in two of CHD patients and not in controls. This SNP shows a change from arginine to cysteine in the second calcium-binding Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) domain, leading to change in the β-sheet in the secondary structure. Therefore, the SNP c.985 C>T of CRELD1 is involved in causing CHD in patients of Mysore, South India.