ABSTRACT
Introduction: Congenital heart diseases (CHD) are one of the neglected and challenging areas in undeveloped countries. In Pakistan approximately 40-50,000 children are affected annually. A majority of these patients belongs to rural areas where properly medical facilities are out of reach. In the etiology of these diseases genetic profile, consanguinity and other factors should be examined carefully. The current study aims to check the genetic manipulations in patients for the NKX 2.5 gene specifically the untranslated gene of this gene. NKX 2.5, a transcription factor and first progenitor in cardiac formation, it encodes 324 amino acid and contains a homeodomain (142-200aa) which is highly conserved among vertebrates. To date, no data is available about the mutations in this gene responsible for CHD in Pakistani population. Material and Methods: A cohort of 225, CHD patients who were registered at National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) from 2006-2009 were included in the study; these are non-syndromic and sporadic cases. Healthy 200 controls were also included with informed consents and detail family history was obtained. DNA was extracted and NKX 2.5 gene was amplified and sequenced to check mutations. Results: The mean age for patients TOF (2.97±1.21), PDA (2.95±2.55), D-TGA (1.84±2.26) and for controls (3.14±1.82) .In present study, two UTR alterations have been reported for NKX 2.5 one at 5' and other at 3'.In our study we look social and genetic aspects for these diseases. Conclusion: CHD is a major cause of child death in the first year of life. Our study concludes a few aspects and will broaden it to other genes as it is a need to find etiology of these diseases and to combat it with the modern genetic therapeutics.