Profiling system-wide variations and similarities between Rheumatic Heart Disease and Acute Rheumatic Fever-A pilot analysis.

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) continues to affect developing countries with low income due to the lack of resources and effective diagnostic techniques. Understanding the genetic basis common to both the diseases and that of progression from its prequel disease state, Acute Rheumatic Fever (ARF), would aid in developing predictive biomarkers and improving patient care. To gain system-wide molecular insights into possible causes for progression, in this pilot study, we collected blood transcriptomes from ARF (5) and RHD (5) patients. Using an integrated transcriptome and network analysis approach, we identified a subnetwork comprising the most significantly differentially expressed genes and most perturbed pathways in RHD compared to ARF. For example, the chemokine signaling pathway was seen to be upregulated, while tryptophan metabolism was found to be downregulated in RHD. The subnetworks of variation between the two conditions provide unbiased molecular-level insights into the host processes that may be linked with the progression of ARF to RHD, which has the potential to inform future diagnostics and therapeutic strategies. We also found a significantly raised neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio in both ARF and RHD cohorts. Activated neutrophils and inhibited Natural Killer cell gene signatures reflected the drivers of the inflammatory process typical to both disease conditions.

Membranous septal aneurysm in a child with Noonan syndrome and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

A 4-year-old boy was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with moderate degree of obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract, secondary to asymmetric septal hypertrophy during infancy. Echocardiogram on follow-up showed increase in left ventricular outflow tract obstruction and appearance of an aneurysm in the membranous portion of interventricular septum. The appearance of the membranous septal aneurysm may be related to the direction of jet arising from the point of contact of the anterior mitral leaflet with the hypertrophied basal septum and hitting this part of the interventricular septum. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12055-021-01287-x.