An insertion/deletion polymorphism within 3′UTR of RYR2 modulates sudden unexplained death risk in Chinese populations

•The rs10692285 polymorphism within the 3′UTR of RYR2 confer SUD risk.•The genotype of rs10692285 was associated with RYR2 expression level.•rs10692285 could alter local structure of RYR2 mRNA and microRNA binding.•rs10692285 may become a potential marker for molecular diagnosis of SUD.•Abnormal ion channel activity is very likely involved in SUD.

Sudden unexplained death (SUD) constitutes a part of the overall sudden death that can not be underestimated. Over the last years, genetic testing on SUD has revealed that inherited channelopathies might play important roles in the pathophysiology of this disease. Ryanodine receptor type-2 (RYR2) is a kind of ion channel extensively distributed in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of myocardium. Studies on RYR2 have suggested that either dysfunction or abnormal expression of it could lead to arrhythmia, which may cause cardiac arrest. In this study, we conducted a case-control study to evaluate the association of a 4-base pair (4-bp) Indel polymorphism (rs10692285) in the 3′UTR of RYR2 with the risk of SUD and sudden cardiac death induced by coronary heart disease (SCD-AS) in a Chinese population. Logistic regression analysis showed that the insertion allele of rs10692285 had significantly increased the risk of SUD [OR = 2.03; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.08-3.77; P = 0.0161; statistical power = 0.743]. No relevance was observed between rs10692285 and SCD-AS. Further genotype-phenotype association analysis suggested that the expression level of RYR2 in human myocardium tissues with the insertion allele was higher than that with the deletion allele at both mRNA and protein levels. Dual-Luciferase activity assay system was used to detect the effect of rs10692285 on the transcription activity of RYR2. As expected, the result indicated that the transcription activity of RYR2 with the ins/ins genotype was higher than that with the del/del genotype. Finally, in-silico prediction revealed that different alleles of rs10692285 could alter the local structure of RYR2 mRNA and microRNA (miRNA) binding. In summary, our findings provided evidence that rs10692285 might contribute to SUD susceptibility through affecting the expression of RYR2, which suggest that abnormal ion channel activity is very likely to be the underlying mechanism of SUD, but not for SCD-AS. Thus, rs10692285 may become a potential marker for molecular diagnosis and genetic counseling of SUD.