title: Prevalence of dystrophin-positive fibers in 85 Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients.
abstract: The prevalence of dystrophin-positive fibers in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) muscle was estimated by direct counting on immunostained sections in a series of biopsy specimens from 85 patients, 42 of which were also screened for intragenic deletions by cDNA probes. Dystrophin-positive fibres are normotrophic and occur in muscle sections at a frequency between 0.01 and 6.81%. Frequencies over 1% were found only in patients older than 6 yr. The prevalence of dystrophin-positive fibers is about the same in patients with detectable and with undetectable deletions. The occurrence of positive fibers in small clusters supports the hypothesis of their clonal origin, suggesting that they may result from genetic reversion. No clinical differences were noticed in DMD patients of similar age with respect to the occurrence of dystrophin-positive fibres in their muscle biopsies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Padua, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fanin
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Danieli
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vitiello
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Senter
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Angelini
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D015342:DNA Probes; D016189:Dystrophin / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D009132:Muscles / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D009137:Muscular Dystrophy, Animal / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D015342:DNA Probes; D016189:Dystrophin; D004247:DNA