Cytotoxicity of lectins toward skin fibroblasts from patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and myotonic dystrophy

Abstract

SummaryWe analyzed the cytotoxicities of concanavalin A (Con A) and wheat germ aggulutinin (WGA) toward cultured skin fibroblasts from nine patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and four patients with myotonic dystrophy. The survival curves (relative colony-forming ability) of the patient fibroblast strains in the presence of either of the lectins were compared to those of seven normal male human fibroblast strains. The respective mean values for the inverse of the slope of the survival curve (DO) and the concentrations resulting in 10~ (D10) and 1 ~ (D01) survival of each group were compared statistically. The nine Duchenne muscular dystrophy strains showed sensitivities to both Con A and WGA similar to those of the controls, except for the sensitivity to WGA in one strain. The sensitivity to Con A of the four myotonic dystrophy strains was almost the same as that of the controls. However, the survival curves in the presence of WGA suggested that the myotonic dystrophy fibroblasts have hypersensity to higher doses of WGA as compared with the controls.