Previous studies revealed that expression of progerin is associated with severe nuclear defects like disturbed lamina, sustained DNA and telomere damages, leading to early cellular senescence, apoptosis and finally to impairment of organ function [18, 28] supporting our findings that increased levels of progerin+ nuclei were associated with increased numbers of apoptotic TUNEL+ cells in DCM hearts. Here, LMNA is linked to familial dilated cardiomyopathy.