Results of the selective Duchenne/Becker screening program

Abstract

Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/DMB) is the most common form of muscular dystrophy, accounting for over 50% of all cases. Since 01.10.2018, a program of selective screening for DMD/DMB has been conducted on the basis of the DNA diagnostics laboratory of the Research Centre of Medical Genetics, aimed at early detection of patients. The main inclusion criteria are male gender, an established clinical diagnosis of DMD or DMB, or a significant increase in the level of creatine phosphokinase (>2000 U/l). At the first stage of screening, patients are scanned for extended deletions and duplications in the DMD gene using multiplex ligase-dependent probe amplification. The second stage is the search for small mutations using a custom NGS panel. In a screening of 1071 unrelated probands with a referral Duchenne/Becker diagnosis, pathogenic variants in the DMD gene were found in 818 boys (in 75,3% of cases). Also, in 96 (8.9%) cases, other genetic causes of progressive muscular dystrophies were identified.