scholarly journals High-Throughput Digital Image Analysis Reveals Distinct Patterns of Dystrophin Expression in Dystrophinopathy Patients

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Torelli ◽  
Domenic Scaglioni ◽  
Valentina Sardone ◽  
Matthew J Ellis ◽  
Joana Domingos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Image Analysis ◽  
Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
High Throughput ◽  
Expression Patterns ◽  
Becker Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Incurable Disease ◽  
Dystrophin Expression ◽  
Dmd Gene ◽  
Muscle Biopsies

Abstract Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an incurable disease caused by out-of-frame DMD gene deletions while in frame deletions lead to the milder Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD). In the last decade several antisense oligonucleotides drugs have been developed to induce a partially functional internally deleted dystrophin, similar to that produced in BMD, and expected to ameliorate the disease course. The pattern of dystrophin expression and functionality in dystrophinopathy patients is variable due to multiple factors, such as molecular functionality of the dystrophin and its distribution. To benchmark the success of therapeutic intervention, a clear understanding of dystrophin expression patterns in dystrophinopathy patients is vital. Recently, several groups have used innovative techniques to quantify dystrophin in muscle biopsies of children but not in patients with milder BMD. This study reports on dystrophin expression using both Western blotting and an automated, high-throughput, image analysis platform in DMD, BMD, and intermediate DMD/BMD skeletal muscle biopsies. Our results found a significant correlation between Western blot and immunofluorescent quantification indicating consistency between the different methodologies. However, we identified significant inter- and intradisease heterogeneity of patterns of dystrophin expression in patients irrespective of the amount detected on blot, due to variability in both fluorescence intensity and dystrophin sarcolemmal circumference coverage. Our data highlight the heterogeneity of the pattern of dystrophin expression in BMD, which will assist the assessment of dystrophin restoration therapies.

scholarly journals Evidence of Insulin Resistance and Other Metabolic Alterations in Boys with Duchenne or Becker Muscular Dystrophy

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maricela Rodríguez-Cruz ◽  
Raúl Sanchez ◽  
Rosa E. Escobar ◽  
Oriana del Rocío Cruz-Guzmán ◽  
Mardia López-Alarcón ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Insulin Resistance ◽  
Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
Glucose Metabolism ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Becker Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
Body Fat Mass ◽  
Metabolic Alterations ◽  
Underweight Patients ◽  
Dmd Gene ◽  
Muscle Biopsies

Aim. Our aim was (1) to determine the frequency of insulin resistance (IR) in patients with Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD), (2) to identify deleted exons of DMD gene associated with obesity and IR, and (3) to explore some likely molecular mechanisms leading to IR.Materials and Methods. In 66 patients with DMD/BMD without corticosteroids treatment, IR, obesity, and body fat mass were evaluated. Molecules involved in glucose metabolism were analyzed in muscle biopsies. Results show that 18.3%, 22.7%, and 68% were underweight, overweight, or obese, and with high adiposity, respectively; 48.5% and 36.4% presented hyperinsulinemia and IR, respectively. Underweight patients (27.3%) exhibited hyperinsulinemia and IR. Carriers of deletions in exons 45 (OR = 9.32; 95% CI = 1.16–74.69) and 50 (OR = 8.73; 95% CI = 1.17–65.10) from DMD gene presented higher risk for IR than noncarriers. We observed a greater staining of cytoplasmic aggregates for GLUT4 in muscle biopsies than healthy muscle tissue.Conclusion. Obesity, hyperinsulinemia, and IR were observed in DMD/BMD patients and are independent of corticosteroids treatment. Carriers of deletion in exons 45 or 50 from DMD gene are at risk for developing IR. It is suggested that alteration in GLUT4 in muscle fibers from DMD patients could be involved in IR.

scholarly journals Mutation-Based Therapeutic Strategies for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: From Genetic Diagnosis to Therapy

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akinori Nakamura
Keyword(s):  
Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
Single Gene ◽  
Genetic Diagnosis ◽  
Exon Skipping ◽  
Becker Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
Therapeutic Strategies ◽  
Severe Phenotype ◽  
Reading Frame ◽  
Dystrophin Expression ◽  
Dmd Gene

Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) are X-linked muscle disorders caused by mutations of the DMD gene, which encodes the subsarcolemmal protein dystrophin. In DMD, dystrophin is not expressed due to a disruption in the reading frame of the DMD gene, resulting in a severe phenotype. Becker muscular dystrophy exhibits a milder phenotype, having mutations that maintain the reading frame and allow for the production of truncated dystrophin. To date, various therapeutic approaches for DMD have been extensively developed. However, the pathomechanism is quite complex despite it being a single gene disorder, and dystrophin is expressed not only in a large amount of skeletal muscle but also in cardiac, vascular, intestinal smooth muscle, and nervous system tissue. Thus, the most appropriate therapy would be complementation or restoration of dystrophin expression, such as gene therapy using viral vectors, readthrough therapy, or exon skipping therapy. Among them, exon skipping therapy with antisense oligonucleotides can restore the reading frame and yield the conversion of a severe phenotype to one that is mild. In this paper, I present the significance of molecular diagnosis and the development of mutation-based therapeutic strategies to complement or restore dystrophin expression.

scholarly journals Low dystrophin variability between muscles and stable expression over time in Becker muscular dystrophy using capillary Western immunoassay

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Koeks ◽  
A. A. Janson ◽  
C. Beekman ◽  
M. Signorelli ◽  
H. A. van Duyvenvoorde ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
Longitudinal Muscle ◽  
Vastus Lateralis ◽  
Becker Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
Dystrophin Expression ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Anterior Tibial ◽  
Total Variability ◽  
Muscle Biopsies ◽  
Over Time

AbstractBecker muscular dystrophy (BMD) is the milder allelic variant of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, with higher dystrophin levels. To anticipate on results of interventions targeting dystrophin expression it is important to know the natural variation of dystrophin expression between different muscles and over time. Dystrophin was quantified using capillary Western immunoassay (Wes) in the anterior tibial (TA) muscle of 37 BMD patients. Variability was studied using two samples from the same TA biopsy site in nine patients, assessing nine longitudinal TA biopsies, and eight simultaneously obtained vastus lateralis (VL) muscle biopsies. Measurements were performed in duplicate with two primary antibodies. Baseline dystrophin levels were correlated to longitudinal muscle strength and functional outcomes. Results showed low technical variability and high precision for both antibodies. Dystrophin TA levels ranged from 4.8 to 97.7%, remained stable over a 3–5 year period, and did not correlate with changes in longitudinal muscle function. Dystrophin levels were comparable between TA and VL muscles. Intra-muscle biopsy variability was low (5.2% and 11.4% of the total variability of the two antibodies). These observations are relevant for the design of clinical trials targeting dystrophin production, and may urge the need for other biomarkers or surrogate endpoints.

scholarly journals CRISPR-induced deletion with SaCas9 restores dystrophin expression in dystrophic models in vitro and in vivo

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin L. Duchêne ◽  
Khadija Cherif ◽  
Jean-Paul Iyombe-Engembe ◽  
Antoine Guyon ◽  
Joel Rousseau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hereditary Disease ◽  
Reading Frame ◽  
Dystrophin Expression ◽  
Dmd Gene ◽  
Dystrophin Protein ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Muscle Biopsies ◽  
Complete Deletion

AbstractDuchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a severe hereditary disease, affecting 1 boy out of 3500, mainly results from the deletion of one or more exons leading to a reading frame shift of the DMD gene that abrogates dystrophin protein synthesis. We used the Cas9 of Staphylococcus aureus (SaCas9) to edit the human DMD gene. Pairs of sgRNAs were meticulously chosen to induce a genomic deletion to not only restore the reading frame but also produced a dystrophin protein with normally phased spectrin-like repeats. The formation of a dystrophin protein with spectrin-like repeats normally phased is not usually obtained by skipping or by deletion of complete exons. This can however be obtained in rare instances where the exon/intron borders of the beginning and the end of the complete deletion (patient deletion plus CRISPR-induced deletion are at similar positions in the spectrin-like repeat. We used pairs of sgRNAs, targeting exons 47 and 58 and a normal reading frame was restored in 67 to 86% of the resulting hybrid exons in myoblasts derived from muscle biopsies of 4 DMD patients with different exon deletions. The restoration of the DMD reading frame and restoration of the dystrophin expression was also obtained in vivo in the heart of the del52hDMD/mđx. Our results provide a proof-of-principle that SaCas9 could be used to edit the human DMD gene and could be considered for the further development of a therapy for DMD.

Dystrophinopathy in a Family Due to a Rare Nonsense Mutation Causing Predominant Behavioral Phenotype

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (04) ◽  
pp. 210-213
Author(s):  
Yohei Harada ◽  
Seth T. Sorensen ◽  
Akilandeswari Aravindhan ◽  
Vikki Stefans ◽  
Aravindhan Veerapandiyan
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disability ◽  
Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
Behavioral Problems ◽  
Nonsense Mutation ◽  
Neuromuscular Disorders ◽  
Elevated Serum ◽  
Becker Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
Genetic Changes ◽  
Dmd Gene ◽  
Neurobehavioral Deficits

AbstractDystrophinopathies are a group of X-linked neuromuscular disorders resulting from mutations in DMD gene that encodes dystrophin. The clinical spectrum includes Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Becker muscular dystrophy, X-linked cardiomyopathy, and intellectual disability without involvement of skeletal muscle. Cognitive and behavioral problems are commonly seen among patients with dystrophinopathy. DMD gene is the largest human gene, consisting of 79 exons that produce dystrophin protein. Patients with genetic changes involving shorter dystrophin isoforms such as Dp140 and Dp71 are suggested to have higher rates of intellectual disability, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and other neuropsychiatric comorbidities. We describe three brothers who presented with prominent neurobehavioral deficits of varying degree, mild proximal weakness, and elevated serum creatine kinase due to a rare nonsense mutation, c.1702C > T; p.Gln568X, in exon 14 of DMD gene. Further studies are needed to better understand the effects of this rare mutation.

scholarly journals Genotype–Phenotype Correlations in Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophy Patients from the Canadian Neuromuscular Disease Registry

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 241
Author(s):  
Kenji Rowel Q. Lim ◽  
Quynh Nguyen ◽  
Toshifumi Yokota
Keyword(s):  
Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
Neuromuscular Disease ◽  
Becker Muscular Dystrophy ◽  
Neuromuscular Disorder ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Disease Registry ◽  
Reading Frame ◽  
Negative Results ◽  
Genetic Test Results ◽  
Dmd Gene

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal neuromuscular disorder generally caused by out-of-frame mutations in the DMD gene. In contrast, in-frame mutations usually give rise to the milder Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD). However, this reading frame rule does not always hold true. Therefore, an understanding of the relationships between genotype and phenotype is important for informing diagnosis and disease management, as well as the development of genetic therapies. Here, we evaluated genotype–phenotype correlations in DMD and BMD patients enrolled in the Canadian Neuromuscular Disease Registry from 2012 to 2019. Data from 342 DMD and 60 BMD patients with genetic test results were analyzed. The majority of patients had deletions (71%), followed by small mutations (17%) and duplications (10%); 2% had negative results. Two deletion hotspots were identified, exons 3–20 and exons 45–55, harboring 86% of deletions. Exceptions to the reading frame rule were found in 13% of patients with deletions. Surprisingly, C-terminal domain mutations were associated with decreased wheelchair use and increased forced vital capacity. Dp116 and Dp71 mutations were also linked with decreased wheelchair use, while Dp140 mutations significantly predicted cardiomyopathy. Finally, we found that 12.3% and 7% of DMD patients in the registry could be treated with FDA-approved exon 51- and 53-skipping therapies, respectively.

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