Denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography quickly and reliably detects cardiac ion channel mutations in long QT syndrome

Multiple mutations in several ion channel genes (KCNQ1, KCNH2, SCN5A, KCNE1, KCNE2, and KCNJ2) have been shown to cause autosomal dominant long QT syndrome (LQTS), a familial cardiac disorder that causes syncope, seizures, and sudden death. Due to their multiple loci and considerable size, mutation detection in these genes represents a challenge that is only partially met by the conventional screening method of single-stranded conformational polymorphism (SSCP). The recently introduced denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (dHPLC) offers a promising new method for a fast and sensitive analysis of PCR-amplified DNA fragments. To test the applicability of dHPLC in the molecular diagnosis of LQTS, we first assessed a cohort of 192 patients from our International LQTS Registry for 14 previously identified mutations (including 10 different missense mutations, 1-bp, 2-bp, 3-bp, and 9-bp deletion mutations), and 2 polymorphisms in the LQTS potassium and sodium channel genes. Applying empirically determined exon-specific melting profiles, all mutations (including four previously undetectable by SSCP) were readily identified by dHPLC. We conclude that the dHPLC technology is a highly sensitive and efficient method for the molecular analysis of LQTS, and the same PCR amplicons developed for SSCP testing can be directly used for dHPLC assay.