Plasma TIMP-1 was elevated and correlated with TGF-β1 in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD), but not in Becker muscular dystrophy.
Our findings suggest that TGF-beta1 is involved in CMD muscle fibrosis, but differently from what we observed in DMD muscles as it seems not to be the major player in connective tissue proliferation.