Rare genetic variants have been identified to be important contributors to the risk of Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), the most common cyanotic congenital heart disease (CHD). But relatively limited familial studies with small numbers of TOF cases have been reported to date. In this study, we aimed to identify novel pathogenic genes and variants that caused TOF in a Chinese family using whole exome sequencing (WES).
A Chinese family whose twins were affected by TOF were recruited for this study. A WES was performed for the affected twins, their healthy brother, and parents to identify the potential pathogenic mutated gene(s). Heterozygous variants carried by the twins, but not the unaffected brother, were retained. Public databases were used to assess the frequencies of the selected variants, and online prediction tools were accessed to predict the influences of these variants on protein function. The final candidate variant was further confirmed by Sanger sequencing in other members of the family.
After several filtering processes, a heterozygous missense variant in the
We assessed a family with TOF caused by a rare heterozygous missense variant of