What Is Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy?
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a rapidly progressive
form of muscular dystrophy that occurs primarily in boys.
It is caused by a mutation in a gene, called the
DMD gene that can be inherited in families in an
X-linked recessive fashion, but it often occurs in people from
families without a known family history of the condition.
Individuals who have DMD have progressive loss of muscle
function and weakness, which begins in the lower limbs. The
DMD gene is the second largest gene to date, which
encodes the muscle protein, dystrophin.
Boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy do not make the
dystrophin protein in their muscles.
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