Revertant fibres: A possible genetic therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy?

Wilton, S.D., Dye, D.E., Blechynden, L.M. and Laing, N.G. (1997) Revertant fibres: A possible genetic therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy? Neuromuscular Disorders, 7 (5). pp. 329-335.

Abstract

The mdx mouse, an animal model used to study Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), has a nonsense mutation in exon 23 of the dystrophin gene which should result in a truncated protein that cannot be correctly localized at the sarcolemma of the muscle fibres. Immunohistochemical staining with anti-dystrophin antibodies had shown that while most of the muscle tissue was dystrophin-negative, a small percentage of muscle fibres were clearly dystrophin-positive and had somehow by-passed the primary nonsense mutation. A nested PCR-based examination of dystrophin gene transcripts around the mdx mutation revealed several alternatively processed transcripts, of which four mRNA species skipped the mutation in exon 23, were in-frame and could be translated into a shorter, but still functional dystrophin protein. Specific tests for these transcripts demonstrated these were also present in normal adult and embryonic mouse muscle tissue.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publisher:	Elsevier BV
Copyright:	1997 Elsevier B.V.
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/21767

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