By focusing on young GC-naïve DMD patients, we were able to identify a useful set of pro-inflammatory biomarkers that were significantly elevated in untreated DMD relative to controls (e.g. FGG, IL-6, CXCL10, CCL18, CCL2, ANGPT2, TNFRSF1A, COL12, C5b-C6 complex). This evidence concerns the gene C5 and Duchenne muscular dystrophy.