Abnormal expression of mu-crystallin in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy

• Published in: Experimental neurology Vol. 205; no. 2; pp. 583 - 586
• Main Authors: Reed, Patrick W., Corse, Andrea M., Porter, Neil C., Flanigan, Kevin M., Bloch, Robert J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Inc 01.06.2007; Elsevier
• Subjects: Antibacterial agents; Antibiotics. Antiinfectious agents. Antiparasitic agents; Biological and medical sciences; Biopsy; Crystallins - biosynthesis; Diseases of striated muscles. Neuromuscular diseases; Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional; Humans; Immunoblotting; Medical sciences; Muscle, Skeletal - metabolism; Muscular Diseases - metabolism; Muscular Dystrophy, Facioscapulohumeral - metabolism; Neurology; Oxidative Stress - physiology; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Rosaniline Dyes; Silver Staining; Up-Regulation - physiology; Human; Oxidative stress; Neuromuscular diseases; Nervous system diseases; Pathogenesis; Retina; Facioscapulohumeral; Muscular dystrophy; Inner ear; Protein; Organ of hearing; Genetic disease; Eye; Visual system; Biopsy; Thyroid hormone; Two dimensional electrophoresis; Mass spectrometry; Myopathy
• ISSN: 0014-4886; 1090-2430
• DOI: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2007.03.009

To identify proteins expressed abnormally in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), we extracted soluble proteins from deltoid muscle biopsies from unaffected control and FSHD patients and analyzed them using two-dimensional electrophoresis, mass spectrometry and immunoblotting. Muscles from patients with FSHD showed large increases over controls in a single soluble, 34 kDa protein (pI = 5.08) identified by mass spectrometry and immunoblotting as mu-crystallin (CRYM). Soluble fractions of biopsies of several other myopathies and muscular dystrophies showed no appreciable increases in mu-crystallin. Mu-crystallin has thyroid hormone and NADPH binding activity and so may influence differentiation and oxidative stress responses, reported to be altered in FSHD. It is also linked to retinal and inner ear defects, common in FSHD, suggesting that its up-regulation may play a specific and important role in pathogenesis of FSHD.