Becker Muscular Dystrophy (BMD) caused by duplication of exons 3-6 of the dystrophin gene presenting as dilated cardiomyopathy

X-linked dilated cardiomyopathy (XLCM) is a progressive myocardial disease presenting with congestive heart failure in teenage males without clinical signs of skeletal myopathy. Tight linkage of XLCM to the DMD locus has been demonstrated; it has been suggested that, at least in some families, XLCM is a {open_quotes}dystrophinopathy.{close_quotes} We report a 14-year-old boy who presented with acute heart failure due to dilated cardiomyopathy. He had no history of muscle weakness, but physical examination revealed pseudohypertrophy of the calf muscles. He subsequently received a heart transplantation. Family history was negative. Serum CK level at the time of diagnosis was 10,416. Myocardial biopsy showed no evidence of carditis. Dystrophin staining of cardiac and skeletal muscle with anti-sera to COOH and NH{sub 2}termini showed a patchy distribution of positivity suggestive of Becker muscular dystrophy. Analysis of 18 of the 79 dystrophin exons detected a duplication that included exons 3-6. The proband`s mother has an elevated serum CK and was confirmed to be a carrier of the same duplication. A mutation in the muscle promotor region of the dystrophin gene has been implicated in the etiology of SLCM. However, Towbin et al. (1991) argued that other 5{prime} mutations in the dystrophin gene could causemore » selective cardiomyopathy. The findings in our patient support the latter hypothesis. This suggests that there are multiple regions in the dystrophin gene which, when disrupted, can cause isolated dilated cardiomyopathy.« less