CASE REPORT article
Front. Genet.
Sec. Computational Genomics
Association of a Rare Single Nucleotide Variant in the KCNH2 Gene with Drug-Induced QT Prolongation and Computationally Predicted Pathogenicity
Provisionally accepted
- 1Texas Christian University Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine, Fort Worth, United States
- 2Fort Worth Institute for Molecular Medicine and Genomics Research, Fort Worth, United States
- 3Consultants in Cardiovascular Medicine and Science, Fort Worth, United States
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Background: Long QT Syndrome (LQTS) is characterized by prolonged QT intervals on electrocardiogram, which may progress into life-threatening polymorphic ventricular tachycardia and sudden cardiac death. Variants in the KCNH2 gene have been associated with congenital LQTS, with thousands identified to date but very few clinically characterized. Objective: To describe the rare single nucleotide variant KCNH2 (NM_000238.4):c.1066C>T (p.Arg356Cys) associated with drug-induced QT prolongation and to assess its pathogenicity risk using in silico tools and protein structural modeling in accordance with American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) guidelines. Methods: Next-generation sequencing was performed for a patient presenting with drug-induced QT prolongation who was found to carry the rare KCNH2 1066C>T variant. Thirteen established gene discovery computational tools were employed to analyze the variant in silico. Additionally, structural modeling of the variant's region within the wild-type protein was performed utilizing AlphaFold. Results: The clinical phenotype associated with the KCNH2 1066C>T variant has not been previously described in literature, except in combination with a variant in the KCNQ1 gene. Computational analysis with a meta-predictor, REVEL, supported variant pathogenicity, while predictive modeling and AlphaMissense illustrated the uncertainty of structural impacts in a disordered region. Risk analysis of the variant performed utilizing ACMG guidelines and ClinGen criteria-specific recommendations resulted in an overall classification of "uncertain significance". Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting a direct phenotype-to-genotype association between the KCNH2 1066C>T variant and drug-induced QT prolongation, supplemented by in silico analyses and ACMG-based variant risk stratification. Our study underscores the importance of recognizing genetic predisposition in drug-induced QT prolongation and motivate further investigation of KCNH2 variants within the N-linker region.
Keywords: arrhythmia, channelopathy, hERG, kcnh2, Potassium ion channel, QT interval, quinolone, variant
Received: 29 Sep 2025; Accepted: 21 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 WANG, Norgan Radler and Sathyamoorthy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mohanakrishnan Sathyamoorthy
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