[Familial myopathy with desmin storage seen as a granulo-filamentar, electron-dense material with mutation of the alphaB-cristallin gene].

Two familial cases of a myopathy remarkable by the presence of a granulo-filamentar, electron dense material were reported in 1978. In a second step, in 1988, it was demonstrated that this material contained an abnormally-phosphorylated desmin. During the last twenty years, the occurrence of new cases in this family confirmed the autosomal dominant inheritance of the disease, and made it potentially informative for molecular genetics studies. This allowed first to map the disease on chromosome11q21-23, and afterwards to identify a mutation within a gene coding for a chaperone protein, alphaBcrystallin. An extensive clinical, pathological and genetic study of this princeps family is herein reported in detail. First, it showed the possible detection of histopathological changes in presymptomatic patients. Second, it allowed to demonstrate the simultaneous occurrence of both alphaBcrystallin and desmin in the granulo-filamentar aggregates. Third, this study provided a precise knowledge of the evolution rate of the disease. The analysis of similar observations reported in the literature clearly shows the clinical, pathological and genetic heterogeneity of this new neuro-muscular disorder.