MedGen

Familial atrial fibrillation is an inherited abnormality of the heart's normal rhythm. Atrial fibrillation is characterized by episodes of uncoordinated electrical activity (fibrillation) in the heart's upper chambers (the atria), which cause a fast and irregular heartbeat. If untreated, this abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia) can lead to dizziness, chest pain, a sensation of fluttering or pounding in the chest (palpitations), shortness of breath, or fainting (syncope). Atrial fibrillation also increases the risk of stroke and sudden death. Complications of atrial fibrillation can occur at any age, although some people with this heart condition never experience any health problems associated with the disorder. [from MedlinePlus Genetics]

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac rhythm disturbance, affecting more than 2 million Americans, with an overall prevalence of 0.89%. The prevalence increases rapidly with age, to 2.3% between the ages of 40 and 60 years, and to 5.9% over the age of 65. The most dreaded complication is thromboembolic stroke (Brugada et al., 1997). Genetic Heterogeneity of Familial Atrial Fibrillation ATFB1 shows linkage to chromosome 10q22-q24. ATFB2 (608988) maps to chromosome 6q. ATFB3 (607554) is caused by mutation in the KCNQ1 gene (607542) on chromosome 11. ATFB4 (611493) is caused by mutation in the KCNE2 gene (603796) on chromosome 21. Variants in a region of chromosome 4q25 are associated with ATFB5 (611494). ATFB6 (612201) is caused by mutation in the NPPA gene (108780) on chromosome 1p36. ATFB7 (612240) is caused by mutation in the KCNA5 gene (176267) on chromosome 12p13. ATFB8 (613055) maps to chromosome 16q22. ATFB9 (613980) is caused by mutation in the KCNJ2 gene (600681) on chromosome 17q24.3. ATFB10 (614022) is caused by mutation in the SCN5A gene (600163) on chromosome 3p21. ATFB11 (614049) is caused by mutation in the GJA5 (121013) gene on chromosome 1q21.1. ATFB12 (614050) is caused by mutation in the ABCC9 gene (601439) on chromosome 12p12.1. ATFB13 (615377) is caused by mutation in the SCN1B gene (600235) on chromosome 19q13. ATFB14 (615378) is caused by mutation in the SCN2B gene (601327) on chromosome 11q23. ATFB15 (615770) is caused by mutation in the NUP155 gene (606694) on chromosome 5p13. ATFB16 (see 613120) is caused by mutation in the SCN3B gene (608214) on chromosome 11q24. ATFB17 (see 611819) is caused by mutation in the SCN4B gene (608256) on chromosome 11q23. ATFB18 (617280) is caused by mutation in the MYL4 gene (160770) on chromosome 17q21. Olesen et al. (2014) analyzed 192 Danish Caucasian patients with onset of lone atrial fibrillation before the age of 40 years for the presence of rare variants in 14 AF-associated genes and found that 29 (7.6%) alleles harbored a very rare variant (minor allele frequency less than 1%), a significantly higher percentage than that found in 6,503 individuals in the NHLBI Exome Variant Server database (4.1%; p = 0.0012). Twenty-four of the 29 rare variants found in the lone AF patient cohort had previously been studied, with 23 (96%) showing abnormal ion channel function by patch-clamp analysis. Olesen et al. (2014) suggested that rare variants in AF susceptibility genes may play a role in the pathophysiology of AF. [from OMIM]