Journal of Personalized Medicine Article Genotype–Phenotype Correlations in Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophy Patients from the Canadian Neuromuscular Disease Registry 1, 1, 1,2, Kenji Rowel Q. Lim y , Quynh Nguyen y and Toshifumi Yokota * 1 Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2H7, Canada;
[email protected] (K.R.Q.L.);
[email protected] (Q.N.) 2 The Friends of Garrett Cumming Research & Muscular Dystrophy Canada, HM Toupin Neurological Science Research Chair, Edmonton, AB T6G2H7, Canada * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-780-492-1102 These authors contributed equally to this work. y Received: 29 October 2020; Accepted: 21 November 2020; Published: 23 November 2020 Abstract: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal neuromuscular disorder generally caused by out-of-frame mutations in the DMD gene. In contrast, in-frame mutations usually give rise to the milder Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD). However, this reading frame rule does not always hold true. Therefore, an understanding of the relationships between genotype and phenotype is important for informing diagnosis and disease management, as well as the development of genetic therapies. Here, we evaluated genotype–phenotype correlations in DMD and BMD patients enrolled in the Canadian Neuromuscular Disease Registry from 2012 to 2019. Data from 342 DMD and 60 BMD patients with genetic test results were analyzed. The majority of patients had deletions (71%), followed by small mutations (17%) and duplications (10%); 2% had negative results. Two deletion hotspots were identified, exons 3–20 and exons 45–55, harboring 86% of deletions. Exceptions to the reading frame rule were found in 13% of patients with deletions.