Expression profiling of 4q-linked and phenotypic FSHD in different steps of myogenic differentiation

The specific gene(s) responsible for FSHD phenotype have not yet been identified. We used the Human GeneChip Exon 1.0 ST platform to analyze the global gene expression profiles of FSHD-1, FSHD-2 and controls during myogenic differentiation. In this dataset, we include the expression data of human primary myoblasts obtained from three FSHD-1 and two FSHD-2 patients, and three healthy controls (CN). This data are used to evaluate the molecular perturbation of FSHD upon muscle differentiation; we compared patients and CN proliferating myoblasts as well as the corresponding myotubes obtained after 8 days of cell differentiation. 16 expression profiles were generated from 6 different cell types: including myoblasts and myotubes from healthy donors and FSHD-1 and FSHD-2 patients. Gene probesets with P < 0.01 and FC > 2 were selected in FSHD-1 assay, whereas P < 0.001 and FC > 2 were used in FSHD-2, in the attempt to overcame problems due to the small sample size analyzed.