Cardiac dystrophin abnormalities in Becker muscular dystrophy assessed by endomyocardial biopsy

Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) are allelic variants caused by mutations in gene-encoding dystrophin. Abnormal expression of dystrophin in skeletal muscle has been shown to correlate with severity of disease. However, in BMD the severity of skeletal and cardiac involvement are not well correlated. We studied the immunostaining pattern of cardiac dystrophin in endomyocardial biopsy specimens from 83 patients with heart disease. Immunohistochemical assessment of dystrophin in four patients with BMD and cardiomyopathy showed a variable distributions of myocytes with continuous, discontinuous, or absent membrane immunostaining patterns. These patterns were obviously different from patterns of other heart diseases. We conclude that the discontinuous immunostaining pattern of cardiac dystrophin is characteristic of BMD and that an absent pattern may be associated with more severe cardiac dysfunction. Because genetic analysis cannot determine the correct diagnosis in 35% of DMD/BMD cases, we recommend routine examination of immunostaining patterns of dystrophin in endomyocardial biopsy specimens in patients with cardiomyopathy suspected to be the result of BMD.