False alarm of the immune system during muscle disease

DNA ( green ) leaked into the cytoplasm - colocalises with the DNA sensor cGAS ( red ) in the skin of patients with myotonic dystrophy type 2. Picture: University Hospitals Dresden/Sarah Rösing all'images in original size . Researchers at the University Hospitals of Dresden and Bonn of the DFG Transregio 237 and from the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 at the University of Bonn have made progress clarifying why patients with myotonic dystrophy 2 have a higher tendency to develop autoimmune diseases. Their goal is to understand the development of the disease, and their research has provided new, potential therapeutic targets. The results of the study have now been published in the renowned journal "Nature Communications". Together, Claudia Günther ( left ) from Dresden and Eva Bartok ( right ) from Bonn - are investigating the connection between myotonic dystrophy and autoimmune diseases. Picture: University Hospitals Dresden & University Hospital Bonn Myotonic dystrophy 2 (DM2) is a form of muscular dystrophy, a disease that leads to progressive muscle degeneration.