PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Marilyne Levy AU - Mélanie Eyries AU - Isabelle Szezepanski AU - Magalie Ladouceur AU - Sophie Nadaud AU - Damien Bonnet AU - Florent Soubrier TI - Genetic analyses in a cohort of children with pulmonary hypertension AID - 10.1183/13993003.00211-2016 DP - 2016 Oct 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - 1118--1126 VI - 48 IP - 4 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/48/4/1118.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/48/4/1118.full SO - Eur Respir J2016 Oct 01; 48 AB - The prevalence of germline mutations in paediatric pulmonary hypertension (PH) is poorly documented. The objective of this study was to determine the mutation frequency in PH genes in a paediatric cohort and describe the clinical characteristics of mutation carriers.The study involved 66 index cases with PH: 35 children with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH); five children with familial PAH (FPAH); three children with pulmonary veno-occlusive disease (PVOD); and 23 children with PAH associated with congenital heart disease (APAH-CHD).No mutations were found in the 23 children with APAH-CHD. In the 40 children with IPAH or FPAH, 12 mutations were found: five on BMPR2; four on ACVRL1; and three on TBX4. In the three PVOD cases, two carried the EIF2AK4 mutation. Mutation carriers had a more severe disease at diagnosis and more aggressive first-line therapy was required. The three patients with PVOD had a very severe disease at diagnosis and required a lung transplantation.The genetic architecture of paediatric PAH is enriched in ACVRL1 and TBX4 mutations compared to adult PAH, but further studies are required to confirm these results. Childhood-onset PAH in children carrying a mutation in one of the genes tested has a more severe presentation at diagnosis but a similar outcome to that observed in non-carriers.Paediatric pulmonary hypertension has a specific genetic architecture http://ow.ly/54yP301hCQi