Myology research highlights

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common muscular dystrophy caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene. DMD is characterized by progressive muscle wasting and weakness, with the onset of symptoms occurring in the early childhood and consequently leading to paralysis and death for respiratory or cardiac failure. There is no cure and glucocorticoids are … [Read more]

Myotonic dystrophy type 2 (DM2) is an incurable neuromuscular disorder caused by a r(CCUG) expansion (r(CCUG)exp) that folds into an extended hairpin with periodically repeating 2×2 nucleotide internal loops (5’CCUG/3’GUCC). We designed multivalent compounds that improve DM2-associated defects using information about RNA-small molecule interactions. We also report the first crystal structure of r(CCUG) repeats refined … [Read more]

Development of novel therapeutics requires good animal models of disease. Disorders for which good animal models do not exist have very few drugs in development or clinical trial. Even where there are accepted, albeit imperfect models, the leap from promising preclinical drug results to positive clinical trials commonly fails, including in disorders of skeletal muscle. … [Read more]

Cardiac dysfunction is the second leading cause of death in myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), primarily because of arrhythmias and cardiac conduction defects. A screen of more than 500 microRNAs (miRNAs) in a DM1 mouse model identified 54 miRNAs that were differentially expressed in heart. More than 80% exhibited downregulation toward the embryonic expression pattern … [Read more]

Several patients with previously reported titin gene (TTN) mutations causing tibial muscular dystrophy (TMD) have more complex, severe or unusual phenotypes. This study aimed to clarify the molecular cause of the variant phenotypes in eight patients of seven European families. Clinical, histopathological and muscle imaging data of patients and family members was reanalyzed. The titin … [Read more]

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a rare autoimmune disease characterized by the production of autoantibodies against proteins of the postsynaptic membrane in the neuromuscular junction. The estimated number of MG patients is steadily increasing, and it had more than doubled in the last 20 years. Monozygotic MG twin concordance is estimated to be about 35% supporting … [Read more]

The prevailing pathomechanistic paradigm for myotonic dystrophy (DM) is that aberrant expression of embryonic/fetal mRNA/protein isoforms accounts for most aspects of the pleiotropic phenotype. To identify aberrant isoforms in skeletal muscle of DM1 and DM2 patients, the authors performed exon-array profiling and RT-PCR validation on the largest DM sample set to date, including Duchenne, Becker … [Read more]

Myotonic dystrophy (DM) of type 1 and 2 (DM1 and DM2) are inherited autosomal dominant diseases caused by dynamic and unstable expanded microsatellite sequences (CTG and CCTG, respectively) in the non-coding regions of the genes DMPK and ZNF9, respectively. These mutations result in the intranuclear accumulation of mutated transcripts and the mis-splicing of numerous transcripts. … [Read more]

In this study, the effects of pain site and intensity on function were examined in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) and chronic pain. Questionnaires assessing pain sites, pain extent (number of sites), pain intensity, and pain interference were completed by 182 individuals with DM1 (43%) or FSHD (57%) … [Read more]

Herein, the authors determined the frequency, rate and extent of development of scoliosis (coronal plane deformity) in wheelchair-dependent patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) who were not receiving steroid treatment. They also assessed kyphosis and lordosis (sagittal plane deformity). The extent of scoliosis was assessed on sitting anteroposterior (AP) spinal radiographs in 88 consecutive non-ambulatory … [Read more]