Multiple mechanisms underlie increased cardiac late sodium current

Abstract

Background: We recently reported a quantitative relationship between the degree of functional perturbation reported in the literature for 356 variants in the cardiac sodium channel gene SCN5A and the penetrance of resulting arrhythmia phenotypes. In the course of that work, we identified multiple SCN5A variants, including R1193Q, that are common in populations but are reported in human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells to generate large late sodium current (I_Na-L).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the functional properties of R1193Q with those of the well-studied type 3 long QT syndrome mutation ΔKPQ.

Methods: We compared functional properties of SCN5A R1193Q with those of ΔKPQ in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells at baseline and after exposure to intracellular phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PIP₃), which inhibits I_Na-L generated by decreased Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) activity. We also used CRISPR/Cas9 editing to generate R1193Q in human-induced pluripotent stem cells differentiated to cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs).

Results: Both R1193Q and ΔKPQ generated robust I_Na-L in CHO cells. PIP₃ abrogated the late current phenotype in R1193Q cells but had no effect on ΔKPQ. Homozygous R1193Q hiPSC-CMs displayed increased I_Na-L and long action potentials with frequent triggered beats, which were reversed with the addition of PIP₃.

Conclusion: The consistency between the late current produced in HEK cells, CHO cells, and hiPSC-CMs suggests that the late current is a feature of the SCN5A R1193Q variant in human cardiomyocytes but that the mechanism by which the late current is produced is distinct and indirect, as compared with the more highly penetrant ΔKPQ. These data suggest that observing a late current in an in vitro setting does not necessarily translate to highly pathogenic type 3 long QT syndrome phenotype but depends on the underlying mechanism.

Keywords: Genetics; Human-induced pluripotent stem cell cardiomyocytes; LQT3; Late/persistent current; SCN5A/Na(V)1.5; hiPSC-CMs.