Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is one of the most frequent hereditary muscle disorders. It is linked to contractions of the D4Z4 repeat array in 4q35. We have characterized the double homeobox 4 (DUX4) gene in D4Z4 and its mRNA transcribed from the distal D4Z4 unit to a polyadenylation signal in the flanking pLAM region. It encodes a transcription factor expressed in FSHD but not...

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) may be a new member of the class of neuromuscular diseases (NMD) due to defects in the nuclear envelope. Unlike other NMDs with primary defects in nuclear envelope proteins, however, FSHD may result from inappropriate chromatin interactions at the envelope. 3D Immuno-FISH and a novel method of 3D by 2D analysis using NucProfile were developed to exa...

BACKGROUND Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is one of the most common muscular dystrophies and is characterized by a non-conventional genetic mechanism activated by pathogenic D4Z4 repeat contractions. By muscle Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) we observed that T2-short tau inversion recovery (T2-STIR) sequences identify two different conditions in which each muscle can be found be...

BACKGROUND Hyperlordosis is common in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), which cannot be controlled by bracing. While the surgical treatment is neither reported nor recommended in previous studies, we report the first corrective surgery for hyperlordosis in one wheelchair-dependent FSHD patient. CASE PRESENTATION A 15-year-old, wheelchair-dependent girl complaining of hyperlordosi...

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) has an estimated prevalence of 4–7 per 100,000 population, making it the third most common type of muscular dystrophy. The classic form of FSHD is characterized by weakness that is slowly progressive and often asymmetric in the face, scapulae, upper arms, lower legs, and abdomen. The age at onset of symptoms varies from infancy to middle age, and li...

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is an inherited and progressive muscle disorder. Although its name suggests otherwise, it comprises weakness of the facial, shoulder and upper arm muscles, and also of the trunk and leg muscles. Its severity and disease course vary greatly and mild or early FSHD can be difficult to recognise. Knowledge of its subtle signs and symptoms can lead direc...

The number of D4Z4 repeats in the subtelomeric region of chromosome 4q is strongly reduced in patients with Facio-Scapulo-Humeral Dystrophy (FSHD). We performed chromosome conformation capture (3C) analysis to document the interactions taking place among different 4q35 markers. We found that the reduced number of D4Z4 repeats in FSHD myoblasts was associated with a global alteration of the thre...

facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (fshd) is a common inherited muscular dystrophy presented clinically with slowly progressive weakness and wasting of facial and limb muscles and rare bulbar muscle involvement. we present herein a 70-year-old man who was a known case of fshd with complaint of 15-day history of progressive difficulty in chewing and dysarthria and was found to have myastheni...

Autosomal dominant facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHDI has an unusual pathogenic mecha­ nism. FSHD is caused by deletion of a subset of D4Z4 macrosatellite repeat units in the subtelomere of chro­ mosome 4q. Recent studies provide compelling evi­ dence that a retrotransposed gene in the D4Z4 repeat, DUX4, is expressed in the human germline and then epigenetically silenced in somatie t...