We investigated the suppressive effects of immunoglobulin (Ig) on effector T cells in autoimmune myocarditis. Treatment with Ig reduced production of the so-called T-helper type 1 (Th1) cytokines stimulated by concanavalin A or cardiac myosin in cultured lymph node (LN) cells from rats with myocarditis. The cytotoxic activities of LN cells from rats immunized with myosin and treated with Ig wer...

PURPOSE The participation of microRNAs (miRNAs) in cardiovascular diseases suggests them as potential targets for novel preventive and therapeutic strategies. In this study, the key myocardial miRNA, miR-21, was identified in the murine coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3)-induced myocarditis model and its contribution to disease progression was explored. METHODS Myocardial microRNA expression changes in...

The diagnosis of acute mild myocarditis in vaguely defined. Therefore we studied 185 consecutive young men in military service with electrocardiographic changes arousing a suspicion of myocarditis in connection with an acute infectious disease. It was possible to classify 160 patients into seven electrocardiographic groups; definite or probable myocarditis was observed in 104 patients. The elec...

INTRODUCTION Although long-term outcome studies in large pediatric myocarditis/cardiomyopathy populations have been reported in literature, none of them focused on comorbidities. METHODS All children and adolescents (age <18 years) treated with myocarditis at the Department of Pediatrics, University of Debrecen, Hungary were followed. Patients suffering from myocarditis during the period 1996...

The frequency of myocarditis associated with meningococcal disease in children was reported only in two autopsied series (United States and South Africa). Here we report the frequency of associated myocarditis in 31 children who died of meningococcal infection at Hospital Infantile N.S. da Glória in Vitória, Espirito Santo State, Brazil. The diagnosis was confirmed by isolation of Neisseria men...

Myocarditis is an uncommon condition encompassing a spectrum from asymptomatic cases to fulminant heart failure. Acute fulminant myocarditis is characterised by severe haemodynamic compromise often necessitating circulatory support. The diagnosis and management of myocarditis remains challenging with uncertainty surrounding the role of immunosuppression therapy. We describe a case of biopsy-pro...

The diagnosis of myocarditis can be challenging given that symptoms, clinical exam findings, electrocardiogram results, biomarkers, and echocardiogram results are often non-specific. Endocardial biopsy is an established method for diagnosing myocarditis, but carries the risk of complications and false negative results. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become the primary non-invasive...

BACKGROUND Cardiac tests for diagnosing myocarditis lack sensitivity or specificity. We hypothesized that contrast-enhanced ultrasound molecular imaging could detect myocardial inflammation and the recruitment of specific cellular subsets of the inflammatory response in murine myocarditis. METHODS AND RESULTS Microbubbles (MB) bearing antibodies targeting lymphocyte CD4 (MBCD4), endothelial P...

The diagnosis of myocarditis traditionally relies on invasive endomyocardial biopsy but none of the imaging studies so far are specific for infiltration of the inflammatory cells itself. We synthesized 68Ga-2-(p-isothiocyanatobenzyl)-1,4,7-triazacyclononane-1,4,7-triacetic acid (NOTA) mannosylated human serum albumin (MSA) by conjugating human serum albumin with mannose, followed by conjugation...

Viral infection of the heart is increasingly recognized as an important cause of both acute and chronic heart failure. Enteroviruses and adenoviruses have been considered the most common pathogens of viral cardiomyopathy (CMP), but parvovirus B19 (PVB19) is increasingly found in endomyocardial biopsies of patients with acute myocarditis or idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (ICM). In addition to...