Background: Several single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the TNC gene have recently been found to be associated with degenerative rotator cuff tears.
Hypothesis: Exonic SNPs in the TNC gene are related to the risk for a failure to heal after rotator cuff repair.
Study design: Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3.
Methods: A total of 302 patients from the Vienna area and European Caucasian ancestry underwent mini-open rotator cuff repair for a full-thickness superior or posterosuperior tear and were assessed for the integrity of the repair 1 year postoperatively with a real-time 7.5- to 10-MHz ultrasound linear array transducer. Outcomes were classified as intact (complete footprint coverage), small (<200 mm2), or large (≥200 mm2) recurrent defect. Patients were genotyped for 15 previously identified risk SNPs within a 49-kbp segment of the TNC gene with the KASP genotyping technology or the Ion-Torrent Personal Genome Machine System.
Results: All recurrent defects were atraumatic failures, and the overall failure rate was 39.7%. Of the traditional risk factors, only the initial tear size was significantly associated with a failure to heal. In a multinomial logistic regression model, the T allele at rs1138545 [C>T] was protective for a large recurrent defect (odds ratio = 0.16; 95% CI, 0.09-0.31). The role of rs1138545 was further backed by haplotype analysis, which showed that the combination of the C allele at rs1138545 [C>T], the A allele at rs2104772 [A>T], and the G allele at rs10759752 [A>G] formed the risk-related haplotype [CAG]. The CAG haplotype was associated with large recurrent defects ( P < .0001; haplotype frequency, 0.394; haplotype score, 4.518). Exonic marker rs1138545 transcribed into all isoforms of the TNC protein, whereas exonic marker rs2104772, which has been associated with Achilles tendinopathy before, transcribed only into large isoforms of the TNC protein.
Conclusion: Recurrent defects after rotator cuff repairs are clinically relevant, and a heritable component of the disorder is plausible on the basis of a genetic association with 8 TNC variants. Characterization of TNC sequences that favor tendon healing will help engineer new products in regenerative medicine.
Keywords: SNP; TNC gene variants; recurrent rotator cuff defects; rotator cuff repair healing.