Meurs et al. Orphanet J Rare Dis (2021) 16:108 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-021-01740-5 RESEARCH Open Access A deleterious mutation in the ALMS1 gene in a naturally occurring model of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the Sphynx cat Kathryn M. Meurs1* , Brian G. Williams1, Dylan DeProspero1, Steven G. Friedenberg2, David E. Malarkey3, J. Ashley Ezzell4, Bruce W. Keene1, Darcy B. Adin1, Teresa C. DeFrancesco1 and Sandra Tou1 Abstract Background: Familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a common inherited cardiovascular disorder in people. Many causal mutations have been identifed, but about 40% of cases do not have a known causative mutation. Mutations in the ALMS1 gene are associated with the development of Alstrom syndrome, a multisystem familial disease that can include cardiomyopathy (dilated, restrictive). Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy has not been described. The ALMS1 gene is a large gene that encodes for a ubiquitously expressed protein. The function of the protein is not well understood although it is believed to be associated with energy metabolism and homeostasis, cell diferentiation and cell cycle control. The ALMS1 protein has also been shown to be involved in the regulation of cell cycle proliferation in perina- tal cardiomyocytes. Although cardiomyocyte cell division and replication in mammals generally declines soon after birth, inhibition of ALMS1 expression in mice lead to increased cardiomyocyte proliferation, and defciency of Alstrom protein has been suggested to impair post-natal cardiomyocyte cell cycle arrest. Here we describe the association of familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in Sphynx cats with a novel ALMS1 mutation. Results: A G/C variant was identifed in exon 12 (human exon 13) of the ALMS1 gene in afected cats and was posi- tively associated with the presence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the feline population (p < 0.0001). The variant was predicted to change a highly conserved nonpolar Glycine to a positively charged Arginine. This was predicted to be a deleterious change by three in silico programs. Protein prediction programs indicated that the variant changed the protein structure in this region from a coil to a helix. Light microscopy fndings included myofber disarray with interstitial fbrosis with signifcantly more nuclear proliferative activity in the afected cats than controls (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: This study demonstrates a novel form of cardiomyopathy associated with ALMS1 in the cat. Familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a disease of genetic heterogeneity; many of the known causative genes encod- ing for sarcomeric proteins. Our fndings suggest that variants in genes involved with cardiac development and cell regulation, like the ALMS1 gene, may deserve further consideration for association with familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Keywords: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, ALMS1, Feline, Mitogenic, Sphynx Background Familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a very common inherited cardiovascular disorder in people, with a preva- *Correspondence: [email protected] lence of 1:250 to 500 [1]. Afected individuals are at risk 1 Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607, USA of developing congestive heart failure or sudden cardiac Full list of author information is available at the end of the article death, although many can remain stable for years [1]. A © The Author(s) 2021. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creat iveco mmons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creat iveco mmons .org/publi cdoma in/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. Meurs et al. Orphanet J Rare Dis (2021) 16:108 Page 2 of 7 signifcant number of causal mutations have been iden- tifed, particularly in sarcomeric or sarcomeric associ- ated genes, but it has been estimated that about 40% of cases are due to mutations in genes in which the associa- tion with cardiomyopathy has yet to be identifed, genes referred to as the “missing causal genes” [2, 3]. Both syn- dromic and nonsyndromic forms of hypertrophic cardio- myopathy exist. Mutations in the ALMS1 gene are associated with the development of Alstrom syndrome in human beings, a multisystem familial disease that can include retinal degeneration, obesity, neurosensorial deafness, type 2 diabetes and cardiomyopathy [4–6]. Two forms of cardiomyopathy are most commonly described with Alstrom syndrome; dilated cardiomyopathy which is most frequently observed in infants; and a restrictive cardiomyopathy observed more commonly in adults [6, 7]. Cardiomyopathy associated with mutations in the ALMS1 gene is most often observed in conjunction with other multisystemic efects of Alstrom syndrome, how- ever, some patients develop isolated cardiomyopathy in the absence of multisystemic disease [5, 6, 8]. Hyper- trophic cardiomyopathy has not yet been described. Tis study describes the discovery of a mutation in the ALMS1 gene associated with the development of famil- ial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the domestic cat, an Fig. 1 a Chromatogram of DNA sequence from unafected cat. excellent model of human hypertrophic cardiomyopathy Arrow indicates location of DNA variant (G in unafected cat). b due to many similarities, including the familial nature, Chromatogram of DNA sequence from afected cat homozygous clinical presentation and pathologic fndings [9, 10]. for the ALMS1 variant. Arrow indicates location of DNA variant (C in afected cat) Results After fltering for variants that were present in at least 50% of the afected Sphynx and in 5% or less of the unaf- amino acid from a highly conserved Glycine, a nonpolar fected control cats, two hundred and forty-seven vari- amino acid, to a positively charged Arginine (Additional ants in 189 genes were predicted to be of moderate or fle 2: Supplemental Data Table 2). (Fig. 2) Te vari- high impact (frameshift, nonsynonymous variant, codon ant was positively associated with the presence of feline insertion, codon deletion, stop gained or lost, start gained hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the cat population with or lost, splice site acceptor or donor). None of these vari- a p value of < 0.0001 and was identifed in 62 (27 heterozy- ants were identifed in the common hypertrophic car- gotes, 35 homozygotes) of 71 afected Sphynx. Afected diomyopathy causative genes including β myosin heavy cats ranged from 1 to 14 years of age (mean of 5 years) chain, myosin binding protein 3, cardiac troponin I, myo- and included 19 females and 42 males. Te other nine sin regulatory light chain, myosin essential light chain, (1–6 years of age; 4 females, 5 males) afected Sphynx α-tropomyosin, cardiac α actin [11]. cats did not have either the ALMS1 variants or the two One hundred and seventy-four variants believed to known feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy MYBPC3 have a likely cardiac impact or infuence were evaluated mutations [21, 22]. Te variant was only found in 2 (both by Sanger sequencing (Additional fle 1: Supplemental heterozygotes) of 214 non-sphynx cats without known Data Table 1) and excluded by presence in more than 5% heart disease for an allele frequency of 0.4% in this gen- of the control population alleles or presence in less than eral cat population. Te variant had a penetrance of 77% 50% of the afected Sphynx cat population. with a relative risk of 13.6 within the feline population. A G/C variant was observed in the ALMS1 gene Te variant was predicted to be a deleterious change in afected Sphynx cats at A3: 92439157 (ENSF- by all three mutation prediction algorithms. Polyphen CAG00000008756) in feline exon 12 (human orthologue (http://genet ics.bwh.harva rd.edu/pph2/), predicted the of exon 13). (Fig. 1) Te variant is predicted to change the mutation to be likely damaging (score of 1.0) (Fig. 3); Meurs et al. Orphanet J Rare Dis (2021) 16:108 Page 3 of 7 proliferative activity of each cat was signifcantly greater in the afected cats than controls (mean of 10 stained nuclei for HCM, mean of 1 for controls). (p < 0.0001). (Figs. 4, 5) Tere was no co-labeling with vimentin and Ki67. Discussion Tis is the frst report of a variant in the Alstrom syn- drome protein 1 (ALMS1) gene in a domestic animal and the frst report of an ALMS1 variant associated with the development of hypertrophic cardiomyopa- thy. Te ALMS1 gene is a large gene that encodes for a ubiquitously expressed protein [12]. Te function of the protein is not well understood although it is believed to be associated with energy metabolism and homeosta- Fig. 2 Long axis 4 chamber view of an afected Sphynx cat sis, intracellular trafcking, cell signaling pathways, cell demonstrating left ventricular free wall and interventricular septal diferentiation and cell cycle control [5]. Of particular hypertrophy denoted by arrows. The scale marker is equivalent to 1 cm interest may be the role of the ALMS1 protein in the regulation of cell cycle proliferation in perinatal cardio- myocytes [13]. Although cardiomyocyte cell division and replication in mammals generally declines soon after SIFT (http://sift.jcvi.org/) predicted it to be a deleterious birth, inhibition of ALMS1 expression in mice lead to change (score of 0.0) and Provean (http://prove an.jcvi.