Dystrophin deficiency markedly increases enterovirus-induced cardiomyopathy: a genetic predisposition to viral heart disease.

Both enteroviral infection of the heart and mutations in the dystrophin gene can cause cardiomyopathy. Little is known, however, about the interaction between genetic and acquired forms of cardiomyopathy. We previously demonstrated that the enteroviral protease 2A cleaves dystrophin; therefore, we hypothesized that dystrophin deficiency would predispose to enterovirus-induced cardiomyopathy.