title: Expression of a cell death marker (Clusterin) in muscle target fibers.
abstract: We report, for the first time, the expression of immunoreactivity to clusterin in skeletal muscle. Clusterin, a protein probably related to the process of programmed cell death (apoptosis), was specifically very highly expressed in target fibers. All target fibers found in 50 muscle biopsy samples from a variety of neuromuscular disorders expressed a high concentration of clusterin in the middle of the targets. Clusterin was not expressed in any targetoid fibers or cores. Acute denervation, where targets are mostly seen, may be the beginning of apoptosis. Hence our findings support the concept that targets are harbingers of acute denervation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, Brasil.
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corbo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Duigou
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Gabbai
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Hays
mesh_terms: D016923:Cell Death; D051152:Clusterin; D005629:Frozen Sections; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D009132:Muscles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: C495242:CLU protein, human; D051152:Clusterin; D006023:Glycoproteins; D018832:Molecular Chaperones