Abstract
Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is an inherited disease characterized by fibrofatty remodeling and sudden cardiac death linked to desmosomal dysfunction. Yet, 40% of cases remain genetically unexplained, and non-desmosomal mutations offer insight into ACM pathophysiology. Myoferlin (MYOF), a calcium (Ca²⁺)-binding protein in cardiomyocytes, is linked to cardiomyopathy, but its mechanism remains unknown. Whole-exome sequencing identified a heterozygous MYOF missense variant (p.G1654S) in an ACM family; we subsequently found three unrelated p.G1654S cases. We hypothesized that MYOF deficiency promotes Ca²⁺ handling deficits and arrhythmogenesis in ACM. In patient iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, MYOF p.G1654S protein dimerized with wild-type protein and underwent accelerated lysosomal degradation, showed disrupted Ca²⁺ handling, and displayed increased arrhythmia burden – all rescued by genomic correction. MYOF interacted with CaV1.2, and verapamil pharmacologically rescued arrhythmias. Heterozygous Myof knockout mice showed systolic dysfunction and fibrosis. These findings establish MYOF as a causative ACM gene and therapeutic target that mediates arrhythmogenesis by disrupting MYOF-CaV1.2.
One Sentence Summary
MYOF deficiency disrupts MYOF-CaV1.2 interaction and calcium handling, causing arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy.
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