Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an X-linked recessive progressive muscle degenerative disorder that causes dilated cardiomyopathy in the second decade of life in affected males. Dystrophin, the gene responsible for DMD, encodes full-length dystrophin and various short dystrophin isoforms. In the mouse heart, full-length dystrophin Dp427 and a short dystrophin isoform, Dp71, are expressed. ...

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a severe and lethal condition, is caused by the absence of muscle dystrophin. Therapeutic trials aiming at the amelioration of muscle function have been targeting the production of muscle dystrophin in affected Duchenne patients. However, how much dystrophin is required to rescue the DMD phenotype remains an open question. We have previously identified two exc...

Dystrophin, the protein product of the Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene, is expressed in brain as well as muscle. The role of dystrophin in the brain is not clear, though one-third of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients exhibit some degree of mental retardation. We have isolated the genomic region encoding the alternative 5' terminus of dystrophin used in the brain. Primer extension and polyme...

BACKGROUND The dystrophin gene, which is mutated in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), encodes a large cytoskeletal protein present in muscle fibers. While dystrophin in skeletal muscle has been extensively studied, the function of dystrophin in vascular smooth muscle is less clear. Here, we have analyzed the role of dystrophin in injury-induced arterial neointima formation. METHODOLOGY/PRINC...

Genome editing with engineered nucleases has recently emerged as an approach to correct genetic mutations by enhancing homologous recombination with a DNA repair template. However, many genetic diseases, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), can be treated simply by correcting a disrupted reading frame. We show that genome editing with transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALEN...

BACKGROUND The dystrophinopathies, duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and Becker muscular dystrophy are common X-linked genetic myopathies resulting from mutations in the dystrophin gene. Duplication is an uncommon mechanism of mutation occurring in about 5% of DMD cases. The global prevalence of DMD is reported as 1/18,000 males. There is little clinical or epidemiological data on African patie...

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe muscle-wasting disorder for which there is currently no effective treatment. This disorder is caused by mutations or deletions in the gene encoding dystrophin that prevent expression of dystrophin at the sarcolemma. A promising pharmacological treatment for DMD aims to increase levels of utrophin, a homolog of dystrophin, in muscle fibers of affecte...

BACKGROUND Duchenne muscular dystrophy results from mutation of the dystrophin gene, causing skeletal and cardiac muscle loss of function. The mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy is widely utilized to evaluate the potential of therapeutic regimens to modulate the loss of skeletal muscle function associated with dystrophin mutation. Importantly, progressive loss of diaphragm function ...

Dystrophin and b-dystroglycan are components of a complex of at least nine proteins (the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex) that physically link the membrane cytoskeleton in skeletal and cardiac muscle, through the plasma membrane, to the extracellular matrix. Mutations in the dystrophin gene, which result in an absence or a quantitative or qualitative alteration of dystrophin, cause a subset of ...

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal muscle-wasting disease characterized by dystrophin deficiency from mutations in the dystrophin gene. Antisense oligonucleotide (AO)-mediated exon skipping targets restoration of the dystrophin reading frame to allow production of an internally deleted dystrophin protein with functional benefit for DMD patients who have out-of-frame deletions. After a...