The fibrosis constantly observed in the muscle of patients suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) remains largely an enigma and is not easily accessible to a specific therapy. Researchers from Créteil, supported by the AFM-Telethon, in collaboration with two researchers from the institute, have identified a biological marker that could substantially advance research in this field:
- the rat model of DMD developed in their laboratory (R-DMDdel25) was used,
- the advantage of this model is that it shows more fibrosis than its mouse counterpart (mdx),
- the progenitor cells of the adipocyte lineage in this model secrete a high amount of cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), the level of expression of which is shown to correlate with the degree of muscle fibrosis.
