Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) is one of the most common progressive muscular dystrophy diseases with X-linked recessive inheritance. It is mainly caused by the deletion, duplication and point mutation of DMD gene. In rare cases, it is also caused by the destruction of DMD gene by chromosomal structural rearrangement. Here, we report a case of Duchenne/Becker Muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) with typical symptoms but unknown genetic defects after MLPA and next generation sequencing tests in other hospitals. Interestingly, we find a pericentric inversion of X chromosome (Chr.X: g. [31939463-31939465del; 31939466-131765063 inv; 131765064-131765067del]) in this patient. We then use the karyotyping, FISH, long-read sequencing and Sanger sequencing technologies to characterize the chromosome rearrangement. We find that this chromosomal aberration disrupt both the DMD gene and the HS6ST2 gene. The patient present with typical DMD symptoms such as muscle weakness, but no obvious symptoms of Paganini-Miozzo syndrome. Our results suggest that the destruction of DMD gene by structural rearrangement is also one of the important causes of DMD. Therefore, we suggest to provide further genetic testing for those DMD patients with unknown genetic defects through routine genetic testing. Cost-effective karyotyping and FISH should be considered firstly to identify chromosome rearrangements. Long-read sequencing followed by Sanger sequencing could be useful to locate the precise breakpoints. The genetic diagnosis of this case made it possible for reproductive intervention in the patient's family.
假肥大型肌营养不良(Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy，DMD/BMD)是一种最常见的进行性肌营养不良疾病，呈X-连锁隐性遗传，主要由DMD基因的缺失、重复及点突变所致，极少数病例是由于染色体结构重排破坏了DMD基因而引起疾病的发生。本文报告了1例经多重连接探针扩增技术(multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification，MLPA)和下一代测序检测后原因未明的、具有典型症状的DMD患者。采用核型分析、FISH分析及三代测序、Sanger测序综合分析发现，患者存在母源性的X染色体臂间倒位(Chr.X:g. [31939463-31939465del; 31939466-131765063 inv; 131765064-131765067del])半合子变异。由于该变异破坏了DMD基因和HS6ST2基因，因此推测该变异是患者发病的遗传学病因。患者表现肌无力等典型的DMD症状，没有明显的Paganini-Miozzo综合征相关症状。本病例的明确诊断，提示结构重排破坏DMD基因也是导致DMD重要原因之一；常规遗传学检测阴性的患者应考虑核型分析、FISH验证等结构重排变异检测技术，通过三代测序技术能确定大概的重排断点位置，Sanger测序可明确断点区域序列。本病例报告通过明确的遗传学诊断为该患者所在家庭进行生殖干预、降低再生育风险提供了诊疗基础。.
Keywords: DMD; FISH; breakpoint analysis; karyotype; structural rearrangement.