Molecular etiology of idiopathic cardiomyopathy.

Idiopathic cardiomyopathy (ICM) is a primary cardiac disorder associated with abnormalities of ventricular wall thickness, size of ventricular cavity, contraction, relaxation, conduction and rhythm. Over the past two decades, molecular genetic analyses have revealed that mutations in the various genes cause ICM and such information concerning the genetic basis of ICM enables us to speculate the pathogenesis of this heterogeous cardiac disease. This review focuses on the molecular pathogenesis, i.e., genetic abnormalities and functional alterations due to the mutations especially in sarcomere/cytoskeletal components, in three characteristic features of ICM, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM). Understanding the functional abnormalities of the sarcomere/cytoskeletal components, in ICM, has unraveled the function of these components not only as a contractile unit but also as a pivot for transduction of biochemical signals.