Revisiting the Genetics of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: From Sarcomeres to Polygenic Modulation and Clinical Translation

TL;DR

This paper reviews how the genetics of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is more complex than previously thought, involving multiple genes and factors that influence disease expression and diagnosis.

Contribution

The paper highlights the shift from monogenic to polygenic understanding of HCM and emphasizes the clinical relevance of gene-specific and polygenic factors.

Findings

HCM is now understood to involve multiple genes and polygenic modulation, not just single gene mutations.

Phenotypic variability in HCM is influenced by variant types, gene-specific mechanisms, and modifying factors.

Polygenic risk scores and genome-wide studies help explain disease susceptibility in genotype-negative patients.

Abstract

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), the most common inherited cardiomyopathy, represents a paradigmatic condition for precision cardiovascular medicine. Once regarded as a monogenic autosomal dominant disorder driven by rare sarcomeric variants, HCM is now recognized as a genetically complex disease characterized by incomplete penetrance, variable expressivity, and heterogeneous clinical trajectories. This review summarizes current evidence on the evolving genetic architecture of HCM, emphasizing the predominant role of definitively validated sarcomeric genes, particularly MYBPC3 and MYH7, and the clinical value of gene panel expansion. Phenotypic variability reflects interactions among variant classes, gene-specific mechanisms, and modifying factors. Differences between missense and truncating variants, haploinsufficiency and poison-peptide effects, allelic imbalance, and age-dependent penetrance contribute to diverse disease expression. Emerging data further support oligogenic inheritance and polygenic modulation, with genome-wide association studies and polygenic risk scores elucidating their contribution to disease susceptibility and variability, especially in genotype-negative patients and carriers of rare variants. We also address genes with emerging evidence and underrecognized pathogenic mechanisms, including deep intronic and splice-altering variants that may explain part of the missing heritability. The importance of distinguishing phenocopies is highlighted, advocating for phenotype-anchored diagnostic pathways integrating clinical assessment, multimodality imaging, and targeted genetic testing. Overall, contemporary data support a targeted, gene-validity-driven approach to genetic testing, where molecular findings primarily inform diagnosis and cascade screening, while risk stratification remains phenotype-led and longitudinal. Future progress will depend on integrative models combining rare variants, polygenic background, imaging, and biomarkers to translate genetic complexity into actionable precision care.

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