We discovered the variants in RAF1 (a RAS-MAPK member) as a primary cause of childhood-onset DCM (~10%). This is the first gene causing isolated DCM to be strongly associated with pediatric-onset disease and the first report of DCM principally attributable to altered RAS-MAPK signaling. Implications of these study on public health include various companies across the world use these variants as diagnostic
markers to identify the risk associated with cardiomyopathies.