Inter-individual variation in mean leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with cancer and several age-associated diseases. Here, in a genome-wide meta-analysis of 37,684 individuals with replication of selected variants in a further 10,739 individuals, we identified seven loci, including five novel loci, associated with mean LTL (P<5x10−8). Five of the loci contain genes (TERC, TERT, NAF1, OBFC1, RTEL1) that are known to be involved in telomere biology. Lead SNPs at two loci (TERC and TERT) associate with several cancers and other diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Moreover, a genetic risk score analysis combining lead variants at all seven loci in 22,233 coronary artery disease cases and 64,762 controls showed an association of the alleles associated with shorter LTL with increased risk of CAD (21% (95% CI: 5–35%) per standard deviation in LTL, p=0.014). Our findings support a causal role of telomere length variation in some age-related diseases.

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) has published a series of guidelines on heart failure (HF) over the last 25 years, most recently in 2016. Given the amount of new information that has become available since then, the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the ESC recognized the need to review and summarise recent developments in a consensus document. Here we report from the HFA workshop that was held

Coronary care unit CDK Cyclin-dependent kinase CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age ≥ 75 years (2 points), Diabetes mellitus, Stroke (2 points)-Vascular disease, Age 65-74 years, Sex category (female) CIED Cardiac implantable electronic device CML Chronic myeloid leukaemia CMR Cardiac magnetic resonance COMPASS-CAT Prospective COmparison of Methods for thromboembolic risk assessment with clinical Perceptions and AwareneSS in real-life patients-Cancer Associated Thrombosis CPET Cardiopulmonary exercise testing CrCl Creatinine clearance CRF Cardiorespiratory fitness CRS Cytokine release syndrome CS Cancer survivors CT Computed tomography CTLA-4 Cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 cTn Cardiac troponin CTRCD Cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction CTR-CVT Cancer therapy-related cardiovascular toxicity CV Cardiovascular CVD Cardiovascular disease CVRF Cardiovascular risk factorsData derived from a single randomized clinical trial or large non-randomized studies.Consensus of opinion of the experts and/or small studies, retrospective studies, registries.©ESC 2022 ESC Guidelines © ESC 2022This table refers to anthracycline equivalence dose using doxorubicin as a reference. Note that these isoequivalent doses are derived from paediatric CS. CS, cancer survivors; CV, cardiovascular.a Data for idarubicin are based upon an estimated anticancer efficacy ratio, not derived from cardiotoxicity data. The CV toxicity dose ratio provides the value that should be used to multiply the dose of the anthracycline of interest to convert to isoequivalent doses of doxorubicin; e.g. to convert 125 mg/m 2 of epirubicin to doxorubicin isoequivalent, multiply the dose by 0.8 (125 mg/m 2 × 0.8 = 100 mg/m 2 of doxorubicin).

QRS interval on the electrocardiogram reflects ventricular depolarization and conduction time, and is a risk factor for mortality, sudden death, and heart failure. We performed a genome-wide association meta-analysis in 40,407 European-descent individuals from 14 studies, with further genotyping in 7170 additional Europeans, and identified 22 loci associated with QRS duration (P < 5 × 10−8). These loci map in or near genes in pathways with established roles in ventricular conduction such as sodium channels, transcription factors, and calcium-handling proteins, but also point to novel biologic processes, such as kinase inhibitors and genes related to tumorigenesis. We demonstrate that SCN10A, a gene at our most significant locus, is expressed in the mouse ventricular conduction system, and treatment with a selective SCN10A blocker prolongs QRS duration. These findings extend our current knowledge of ventricular depolarization and conduction.

AimsTo investigate whether phospholamban gene (PLN) mutations underlie patients diagnosed with either arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) or idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Methods and resultsWe screened a cohort of 97 ARVC and 257 DCM unrelated index patients for PLN mutations and evaluated their clinical characteristics. PLN mutation R14del was identified in 12 (12 % ) ARVC patients and in 39 (15 % ) DCM patients. Haplotype analysis revealed a common founder, estimated to be between 575 and 825 years old. A low voltage electrocardiogram was present in 46 % of R14del carriers. Compared with R14del-DCM patients, R14del+ DCM patients more often demonstrated appropriate implantable cardioverter defibrillator discharge (47 % vs. 10 % , P , 0.001), cardiac transplantation (18 % vs. 2 % , P , 0.001), and a family history for sudden cardiac death (SCD) at , 50 years (36 % vs. 16 % , P ¼ 0.007). We observed a similar pattern in the ARVC patients although this was not statistically significant. The average age of 26 family members who died of SCD was 37.7 years. Immunohistochemistry in available myocardial samples revealed absent/depressed plakoglobin levels at intercalated disks in five of seven (71 % ) R14del+ ARVC samples, but in only one of nine (11 % ) R14del+ DCM samples (P ¼ 0.03). ConclusionsThe PLN R14del founder mutation is present in a substantial number of patients clinically diagnosed with DCM or ARVC. R14del+ patients diagnosed with DCM showed an arrhythmogenic phenotype, and SCD at young age can be the presenting symptom. These findings support the concept of 'arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy'.--

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a potentially life-threatening condition typically presenting as heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) in the last month of pregnancy or in the months following delivery in women without another known cause of heart failure. This updated position statement summarizes the knowledge about pathophysiological mechanisms, risk factors, clinical presentation, diagnosis and management of PPCM. As shortness of breath, fatigue and leg oedema are common in the peripartum period, a high index of suspicion is required to not miss the diagnosis. Measurement of natriuretic peptides, electrocardiography and echocardiography are recommended to promptly diagnose or exclude heart failure/PPCM. Important differential diagnoses include pulmonary embolism, myocardial infarction, hypertensive heart disease during pregnancy, and pre-existing heart disease. A genetic contribution is present in up to 20% of PPCM, in particular titin truncating variant. PPCM is associated with high morbidity and mortality, but also with a high probability of partial and often full recovery. Use of guideline-directed pharmacological therapy for HFrEF is recommended in all patients

The QT interval, an electrocardiographic measure reflecting myocardial repolarization, is a heritable trait. QT prolongation is a risk factor for ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD) and could indicate the presence of the potentially lethal Mendelian Long QT Syndrome (LQTS). Using a genome-wide association and replication study in up to 100,000 individuals we identified 35 common variant QT interval loci, that collectively explain ∼8-10% of QT variation and highlight the importance of calcium regulation in myocardial repolarization. Rare variant analysis of 6 novel QT loci in 298 unrelated LQTS probands identified coding variants not found in controls but of uncertain causality and therefore requiring validation. Several newly identified loci encode for proteins that physically interact with other recognized repolarization proteins. Our integration of common variant association, expression and orthogonal protein-protein interaction screens provides new insights into cardiac electrophysiology and identifies novel candidate genes for ventricular arrhythmias, LQTS,and SCD.

We conducted genome-wide association analyses of mean leukocyte telomere length in 2,917 subjects and follow-up replication analyses in 9,492 and identified a locus on 3q26 encompassing the telomerase RNA component TERC, with compelling evidence for association (rs12696304, combined P value 3.72×10 −14 ). Each copy of the minor allele of rs12696304 was associated with ≈75 base pairs shorter mean telomere length equivalent to ≈3.6 years of age-related attrition of mean telomere length.Telomeres are structures at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes that are made up of a simple repetitive sequence (in humans TTAGGG) and involved in maintaining genomic stability and regulating cellular proliferation. 1 Telomere length (TL) plays an important role in determining telomere function. In somatic cells TL progressively shortens with each mitotic division due to the inability of DNA polymerase to fully replicate the 3 end of the DNA strand. Cellular senescence and subsequent death often occurs when the mean TL Correspondence to: Nilesh J Samani, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Glenfield Hospital, Groby Road, Leicester, LE3 9QP, UK, Telephone: +441162563021; Facsimile: +441162875792; njs@le.ac.uk. AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS N.J.S and T.S. conceived the study. V.C., M.M., and P.vd.H. designed the laboratory work and conducted the analyses. V.C., P.S.B., M.K., J.M., I.M-L., and R.A.d.B. undertook the laboratory work. A.J.B provided bioinformatics support and S.R., C.N., and N.S. undertook statistical support. A.S.H and N.J.S recruited and provided samples and data from the BHF Family Heart Study, W.T.C.C.C. and W.O. from the UKBS samples, A.H.G., P.R.B., M.D.T., and N.J.S from the GRAPHIC study, G.Z., A.M.V., H.B., and T.S. from the TwinsUK study and D.J.vV., W.H.vG., and G.N. from the PREVEND Study. J.R.T. oversaw the statistical analysis. The paper was written by V.C., M.M. and N.J.S. All authors contributed to the final version of the manuscript. *These authors contributed equally to this work. #These authors contributed equally to this work. Figure 1B) in both cohorts. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST STATEMENTWe analysed the association of T/S ratio adjusted for age and gender with genotype individually in the BHF-FHS (Supplementary Table 2A) and UKBS (Supplementary Tables 2B) cohorts and also in a combined analysis of the two cohorts. The quantile-quantile plots for each cohort are shown in Supplementary Figure 1C and the power to detect associations in Supplementary Figure 1D. The genomic inflation control factors for the BHF-FHS and UKBS analyses were 1.02 and 0.99, respectively. We screened the results from the combined analysis for SNPs that showed concordance in their results in the individual analyses (i.e. at least nominally significant (P<0.05) in both cohorts with beta coefficients in the same direction). These criteria identified 180 SNPs at p<1×10 −3 and 24 SNPs at p<1×10 −4 . SNPs achieving a combined P<5×10 −5 are shown in Supplementary Table 2C. Notably, neither the previously repor...