CONGENITAL MUSCULAR-DYSTROPHIES

Considerable advances in the understanding of congenital muscular dyst rophy made during the past year may allow a new clinical classificatio n of this disease. In particular, (1) evidence has accumulated to sugg est that a laminin alpha2-chain (alpha2 subunit of laminin-2 or merosi n) deficiency causes a type of congenital muscular dystrophy, and (2) it has been postulated that Fukuyama-type congenital muscular dystroph y and Walker-Warburg syndrome (but not Finnish muscle-eye-brain diseas e) are genetically identical diseases.