The practicality and need for genetic testing for malignant hyperthermia.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Sheila M Muldoon.
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BACKGROUND: Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a pharmacogenetic disorder of skeletal muscle, manifested as a life-threatening hypermetabolic crisis after exposure to anesthetics. Type I ryanodine receptor 1 is the primary gene responsible for susceptibility to MH as well as central core disease, a congenital myopathy that predisposes susceptibility to MH. More than 40 mutations in the RyR1 gene cluster in three coding regions: the N-terminus, central, and C-terminus regions. However, the frequency of mutations in each region has not been studied in the North American MH-susceptible population. METHODS: The authors tested 124 unrelated patients with MH susceptibility for the presence of mutations in the N-terminus (exons 2, 6, 9, 11, 12, and 17), central (exons 39, 40, 44, 45, and 46), and C-terminus (exons 95, 100, 101, and 102) regions. RESULTS: Fourteen mutations have been identified in 29 of 124 MH-susceptible patients (23%). Approximately 70% of the mutations, which include a novel mutation, Ala 2437Val, were in the central region. In 8 patients (28%), mutations were identified in the N-terminus region. Screening the C-terminus region yielded a novel mutation, Leu4824Pro, in a single patient with a diagnosis of central core disease. CONCLUSIONS: The detection rate for mutations is only 23% by screening mutations (or exons) listed in the 2002 North American consensus panel. The implications from this study suggest that testing the central region first is currently the most effective screening strategy for the North American population. Screening more exons in the three hot spots may be needed to find an accurate frequency of mutations in the RyR1 gene.
UNLABELLED: The caffeine halothane contracture test (CHCT) is the only validated test for diagnosing malignant hyperthermia (MH) susceptibility (MHS) and phenotyping MHS families. Although most diagnostic laboratory tests can check intra- and interlaboratory consistency through the use of standard control samples, there has been no practical way to achieve this goal for the CHCT. The distances between diagnostic centers and time constraints of the CHCT protocol (5 h) prohibit centers from sharing tissue samples. In this study, we investigated varying storage conditions to extend the standard viability period of skeletal muscle to 24 h. Twenty MHS patients were tested according to the North America protocol. After standard CHCT, the surplus muscle samples were placed in one of the following four treatment groups. In Groups 1 and 2, muscles remained under tension and were stored in Krebs buffer (pH 7.4) at 23 degrees C-25 degrees C (clamped-warm) and 4 degrees C (clamped-cold), respectively. In Groups 3 and 4, muscle strips were dissected, and the ends were tied with silk sutures, cut from the clamp, and placed in Krebs buffer at 23 degrees C-25 degrees C (free-warm) and 4 degrees C (free-cold), respectively. The responses of the treatment groups to halothane (3%) and caffeine (0.5-32 mM) were tested at 22-26 h after excision. The clamped-warm storage group correctly diagnosed MHS in all patients. IMPLICATIONS: Varying conditions for storage of muscle were investigated to extend the viability period of muscle in the malignant hyperthermia (MH) test from 5 to 24 h. Muscles stored for 24 h under tension at room temperature remained viable and correctly diagnosed MH susceptibility in all patients.