CMD has recently been classified into four categories: CMD I, the classical or "pure' CMD without severe impairment of intellectual development; CMD II, the Fukuyama type CMD with muscle and structural brain abnormalities; CMD III and IV with muscle, eye and brain abnormalities; the milder Finnish type CMD (CMD III) and the severe Walker-Warburg syndrome (CMD IV).
Dystrophin and dysferlin were normal in all; among the patients with MD-CMD, merosin deficiency was partial in nine who showed the same clinical severity as those with total deficiency; the reduced expression of alpha-sarcoglycan (SG) and alpha-dystroglycan (DG) showed statistically significant correlation with severe MD-CMD phenotype.
Biglycan has been considered a good candidate for neuromuscular disease based on direct interactions with collagen VI and alpha-dystroglycan, both of which are linked with congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD).
Stat3 expression is predominant in tissues of mesodermal origin, and its conditional ablation using mesoderm-specific TCre, in vivo, causes dwarfism and skeletal defects characteristic of CD.
A human autosomal XY sex reversal locus, SRA1, associated with the skeletal malformation syndrome campomelic dysplasia (CMPD1), has been placed at distal 17q.
A new form of congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) with multisystem involvement and characteristic mitochondrial structural changes, due to choline kinase beta (CHKB) gene defects has been characterized by intellectual disability, autistic features, ichthyosis-like skin changes, and dilated cardiomyopathy.
A substantial proportion of patients with splanchnic venous thrombosis and a small, but significant, number of patients with CVT can be recognized as carriers of the JAK2V617F mutation in the absence of overt signs of CMD.
An MPRI of 1.4 accurately detected impaired perfusion related to CMD (IMR ≥25 U; FFR >0.8) (area under the curve: 0.90; specificity: 95%; sensitivity: 89%; p < 0.001).