The HHEX gene is not related to congenital heart disease in 296 Chinese patients.

BACKGROUND: The hematopoietically expressed homeobox (HHEX) gene is an important determinant of mammalian heart development. This study aimed to identify the potential mutations of the gene in Chinese patients with congenital heart disease (CHD). METHODS: We collected 296 CHD patients and 200 controls, and classified the cardiac deformities. Then we conducted sequence analyses of the HHEX gene in those patients. RESULTS: In all the CHD patients, we did not find any causative mutations in the coding region of the HHEX gene. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the HHEX gene in non-symptomatic CHD cases, and this has expanded our knowledge about its etiology.