ArticleJournal of cellular and molecular medicine2013
DUX4 expression in FSHD muscle cells: how could such a rare protein cause a myopathy?
Article in Journal of cellular and molecular medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 105 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
105 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 153 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analysis towards FSHD reveals misregulation of neuromuscular junction, nuclear envelope, and spliceosome.Communications biology · 2024Pooled it
- Lipid nanoparticle delivery of antisense gapmers attenuates pathology in a mouse model of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy · 2026Article
- Impaired Myogenic Differentiation Is a Shared Feature Across Genetic Myopathies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Identification of compounds that repress DUX4 expression in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Plasma EV Proteomics Identifies ECM Remodeling and Inflammatory Proteins LUM and C7 as Candidate Biomarkers in FSHD.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2026Article
- Transgenic mouse models for investigating human DUX4 expression during development and its roles in FSHD pathophysiology.Disease models & mechanisms · 2026Article
- Identification of compounds that repress DUX4 expression in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- SMCHD1 loss re-wires MYOD1 enhancer nexuses and chromatin accessibility landscapes in muscle cells.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Genome-wide analysis of FSHD cell lines using Nanopore sequencing reveals allele-specific differences at DUX4 target genes and complex repeats.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Adaptive response to electrical pulse stimulation is impaired in FSHD myotubes by DUX4 gene network activation.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Diversity challenges and reconciles genetics in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.Journal of human genetics · 2025Review
- All-in-one vectors for epigenetic CRISPR inhibition ofMolecular therapy. Methods & clinical development · 2025Article
- DUX4 at 25: how it emerged from "junk DNA" to become the cause of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.Skeletal muscle · 2025Review
- Estrogen rescues muscle regeneration impaired by DUX4 in a humanized xenograft mouse model.Cell death & disease · 2025Article
- The recent clinical trial of losmapimod for the treatment of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.Neuromuscular disorders : NMD · 2025Review
- DUX4 activates common and context-specific intergenic transcripts and isoforms.Science advances · 2025Article
- Comparative Analysis of Splicing Alterations in Three Muscular Dystrophies.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- The Unexplored Role of Connexin Hemichannels in Promoting Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy Progression.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- SIX transcription factors are necessary for the activation of DUX4 expression in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.Skeletal muscle · 2024Article
- Temporal variation in p38-mediated regulation of DUX4 in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.Scientific reports · 2024Article
45 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is one of the most frequent hereditary muscle disorders. It is linked to contractions of the D4Z4 repeat array in 4q35. We have characterized the double homeobox 4 (DUX4) gene in D4Z4 and its mRNA transcribed from the distal D4Z4 unit to a polyadenylation signal in the flanking pLAM region. It encodes a transcription factor expressed in FSHD but not healthy muscle cells which initiates a gene deregulation cascade causing differentiation defects, muscle atrophy and oxidative stress. PITX1 was the first identified DUX4 target and encodes a transcription factor involved in muscle atrophy. DUX4 was found expressed in only 1/1000 FSHD myoblasts. We have now shown it was induced upon differentiation and detected in about 1/200 myotube nuclei. The DUX4 and PITX1 proteins presented staining gradients in consecutive myonuclei which suggested a diffusion as known for other muscle nuclear proteins. Both protein half-lifes were regulated by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. In addition, we could immunodetect the DUX4 protein in FSHD muscle extracts. As a model, we propose the DUX4 gene is stochastically activated in a small number of FSHD myonuclei. The resulting mRNAs are translated in the cytoplasm around an activated nucleus and the DUX4 proteins diffuse to adjacent nuclei where they activate target genes such as PITX1. The PITX1 protein can further diffuse to additional myonuclei and expand the transcriptional deregulation cascade initiated by DUX4. Together the diffusion and the deregulation cascade would explain how a rare protein could cause the muscle defects observed in FSHD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.