DCM-NEXT · Enabling advances in diagnosis, patient stratification and treatment for dilated cardiomyopathy patients and families.

Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a heart muscle disorder characterised by thinning and stretching of the heart ventricles, making it harder for the heart to pump blood (systolic dysfunction). This disorder, with an estimated prevalence of up to 1/250, predominantly affects younger adults. It is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, including heart failure and sudden cardiac death, with end-stage DCM being the leading indication for heart transplantation.The current disease burden in DCM is largely attributable to two important gaps in scientific knowledge: Firstly, our understanding of the aetiology and genetic architecture of DCM remains limited, hindering the utility of genetic testing in clinical patient management. Secondly, there are limited therapeutic options for DCM patients. Existing therapies are generic and target symptoms. No curative treatments exist, apart from invasive heart transplantation and there are no approved therapies targeting underlying molecular disease mechanisms. A fuller understanding of the genetic architecture of DCM and knowledge of the genes and genetic variants involved are critically needed to provide solutions for these unmet medical needs.The DCM-NEXT consortium combines world-leading interdisciplinary expertise and resources of 8 investigators in the fields of DCM, deep clinical phenotyping, cardiogenomics, cardiac transcriptomics, artificial intelligence, in silico drug target discovery and functional studies. They will uniquely leverage their unparalleled cohort of 11,750 DCM probands and relatives with extensive clinical and omics data.Through cutting-edge genomic and cardiac transcriptomic studies, the project aims to (1) revolutionise genetic testing and patient stratification for more precise prediction of disease onset, progression and risk of major adverse cardiac events; and (2) accelerate development of novel therapies by identifying and validating targets involved in pathogenesis of DCM.