“…On the other hand, loss-of-function mutations decrease I Na and are responsible for cardiac conduction diseases (Schott et al, 1999;Tan et al, 2001;Probst et al, 2003), Brugada syndrome (Gussak et al, 1999), sick sinus syndrome (Benson et al, 2003), and atrial standstill (Groenewegen et al, 2003). To complicate matters further, some SCN5A mutations can lead to more complex diseases associating different phenotypic traits such as, for instance, bradycardia, conduction disease, LQT3, and Brugada syndrome (so-called overlap syndromes; Bezzina et al, 1999;Kyndt et al, 2001;Grant et al, 2002;Rossenbacker et al, 2004;Smits et al, 2005; for review, see Remme et al, 2008). Finally, there is also an association between SCN5A genetic defects and susceptibility to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM; McNair et al, 2004) and atrial fibrillation (Laitinen-Forsblom et al, 2006;Ellinor et al, 2008).…”