Congenital heart diseases or congenital heart defects (CHD) are defined as congenital abnormalities in the structural and functional development of the heart and represent one of the most common congenital birth defects with a high mortality rate in newborns worldwide. Cardiac development is an extremely complex multi-stage process. The etiology of congenital heart defects is still not precisely known, most likely it is a multifactorial cause that combines genetic and environmental factors. One of the potential genetic risk factors are mutations in the Nkx2-5 transcription factor gene. Changes in the nkx2-5 gene can significantly affect the function of the transcription factor which greatly increases the risk of congenital heart defects. One of the investigated polymorphisms in the nkx2-5 gene is rs2277923.
The purpose of the master's thesis is to determine the influence of the rs2277923 polymorphism on the occurrence of congenital heart defects in the Slovenian population. Using Taqman hydrolysis probe technology, we genotyped 119 children with a confirmed form of nonsyndromic congenital heart defect and 169 healthy controls. For a more in-depth study we defined congenital heart defects according to the etiological classification and pointed out the most common types of congenital heart defects in the Slovenian population. Despite the statistically insignificant results in our study, the results of the analysis of the atrial septal defect (ASD), aortic stenosis (AS) and tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) stand out, indicating rs2277923 association and involvement in the occurrence of heart defects. We assume that by increasing the number of subjects in individual categories, we might achieve statistically significant values. We also determined the frequency of the rs2277923 polymorphism in the Slovenian population and compared it with other world populations as the frequency of alleles varies greatly among world populations. The allele frequency in the Slovenian population is 71 % for the A allele and 29 % for the G allele, which represents an almost perfect fit with the European average.
Studies suggest that the rs2277923 polymorphism is involved in the development of congenital heart defects through the influence on co-regulated transcription factors and target genes, through influence at the mRNA level, or at the protein level. We conclude that rs2277923 has a more distinct effect on the development of only particular types of congenital heart defects, but the mechanism remains unknown. In order to better understand involvement of rs2277923 in the development of congenital heart defects further studies are needed.
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