Gene for Heart Muscle Disease Found

A single mutated gene causes more than 1 out of 4 cases of an inherited form of heart disease, new research suggests. The study focused on dilated cardiomyopathy. This disease causes the heart to stretch and get larger. The walls become thinner and less able to pump blood. The inherited form occurs in people who receive a mutated gene from just one parent. The new study included 312 people with dilated cardiomyopathy. No cause was known, so they were thought to have an inherited form. Researchers compared their DNA with two other groups of people. One group had a different disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. People in the other group had healthy hearts. About 27% of people with inherited dilated cardiomyopathy had a mutation that shortened a gene known as TTN. Up to half of those with the mutation had a parent or sibling with the same mutation.