0000000000234622
AUTHOR
Alexandra Vrabie
Primary desminopathies.
• Introduction • Desmin is an essential component of the extrasarcomeric cytoskeleton in striated muscle cells • Distal myopathy,cardiac arrhythmias,cardiomyopathy:classical criteria of primary desminopathies • Sub-sarcolemmal and cytoplasmic desmin-positive protein aggregates:the morphological hallmark of primary and secondary desminopathies • The spectrum of pathogenic desmin gene mutations • The molecular pathogenesis of primary desminopathies: some answers gained,but even more questions raised • Diagnostic work-up to distinguish primary from secondary desminopathies • Treatment and clinical management of primary desminopathy patients Abstract Mutations of the human desmin gene o…
Protein Aggregation in Muscle Fibers and Respective Neuromuscular Disorders
Protein aggregation in muscle fibers may be a nonspecific phenomenon such as occurring in cores or ragged red fibers. However, it may also be a disease-specific and disease-significant phenomenon constituting protein aggregate myopathies (PAMs). These may be divided into two classes: The first one is marked by impaired extralysosomal degradation of proteins, catabolic PAM, encompassing desmin-related myopathies. Mutant proteins, that is, desmin, myotilin, or α-B crystallin, defy protein degradation, aggregate and associate with other proteins within muscle fibers, hence marking desminopathies, myotilinopathies, and α-B crystallinopathies. A second class of PAM encompasses those apparently a…