NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Scientists have identified a genetic mutation responsible for an inherited form of heart failure, a discovery which may help them better understand the disease in general.
The researchers, led by Dr. Timothy M. Olson, of the University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, describe their work in the May 1st issue of the journal Science.
By studying two unrelated families, the researchers discovered a mutation that causes idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC), a type of heart failure with no known cause that affects only 5 to 8 per 100,000 individuals.
In some families affected by IDC, the newly identified mutation affects the production of cardiac actin, a protein involved in muscle contraction.
This finding raises the possibility that even in patients with non-inherited forms of heart failure, the problem may lie in how the heart muscle is able to transmit the force required for its normal function, the authors suggest.
Heart failure affects some 700,000 people per year in the United States and accounts for annual costs of $10 to $40 billion in the US alone.
SOURCE: Science (1998;280:750-752)
