Strain- and age-dependent loss of sarcoglycan complex in cardiomyopathic hamster hearts and its re-expression by delta-sarcoglycan gene transfer in vivo

The delta-sarcoglycan (SG) gene is deleted in hamsters with hereditary card iomyopathies, Immunological analyses of heart before, but not after, the pr ogression of cardiomyopathy (CM) revealed that the BIO 14.5 strain, a model of hypertrophic CM, heterogeneously preserved alpha- and II-SG with loss o f beta- and delta-SG, In contrast, the TO-2 strain, a model of dilated CM, did not show,v either SG, Furthermore, in vivo transfer of the full length delta-SG gene to TO-2 hearts expressed all four SGs, Thus, this age- and st rain-dependent features suggest a more feasible setting for TO-2 than BIO 1 4.6 to verify both CM progression and the efficacy of gene therapy, (C) 199 9 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.