| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2008 | Volume
: 56
| Issue : 3 | Page : 374--378 |
Becker muscular dystrophy in Indian patients: Analysis of dystrophin gene deletion patterns
Rashna S Dastur1, Pradnya S Gaitonde1, Satish V Khadilkar2, Jayshree J Nadkarni1
1 Department of Neuropathology and Applied Biology, Bombay Hospital, Mumbai, India
2 Department of Neurology, Bombay Hospital, Mumbai, India
Correspondence Address:
Jayshree J Nadkarni
Department of Neuropathology and Applied Biology, Medical Research Centre, Bombay Hospital Trust, New Marine Lines Mumbai- 400 020
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0028-3886.40961
Background: Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) is caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene with variable phenotypes. Becker muscular dystrophy patients have low levels of nearly full-length dystrophin and carry in-frame mutations, which allow partial functioning of the protein. Aim: To study the deletion patterns of BMD and to correlate the same with reading frame rule and different phenotypes. Setting: A tertiary care teaching hospital. Design: This is a prospective hospital-based study. Materials and Methods: Thirty-two exons spanning different "hot spot" regions using Multiplex PCR techniques were studied in 347 patients. Two hundred and twenty-two showed deletions in one or more of the 32 exons. Out of these, 46 diagnosed as BMD patients were analyzed. Results: Forty-six BMD patients showed deletions in both regions of the dystrophin gene. Out of these 89.1% (41/46) were in-frame deletions. Deletions starting with Exon 45 were found in 76.1% (35/46) of the cases. Mutations in the majority of cases i.e. 39/46 (84.8%) were seen in 3' downstream region (Exon 45-55, distal rod domain). Few, i.e. 5/46 (10.8%) showed deletions in 5' upstream region (Exons 3-20, N-terminus and proximal rod domain) of the gene, while in 2/46 (4.4%) large mutations (>40 bp) spanning both regions (Exons 3-55) were detected. Conclusion: This significant gene deletion analysis has been carried out for BMD patients particularly from Western India using 32 exons.
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