Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Viral damage or ‘molecular mimicry’—placing the blame in myocarditis

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Medicine

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Coxsackieviruses have long been associated with myocarditis. Recent studies have attempted to determine whether this autoimmune response to heart antigens is initiated by the virus itself, or by host antigens released during viral damage (pages 693–697).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1: The pathogenesis of myocarditis.

References

  1. Horwitz, M.S. et al. Pancreatic expression of interferon-g protects mice form lethal coxsackievirus B3 infection and subsequent myocarditis. Nature Med. 6, 693–697 ( 2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Rose, N.R. & Mackay, I.R. Molecular mimicry: a critical look at exemplary instances in human diseases. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 57, 542–551 ( 2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Albert, L.J. & Inman, R.D. Molecular mimicry and autoimmunity . N. Engl. J. Med. 341, 2068– 2074 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Evans, C.F., Horwitz, M.S., Hobbs, M.V. & Oldstone, M.B. Viral infection of transgenic mice expressing a viral protein in oligodendrocytes leads to chronic central nervous system autoimmune disease. J. Exp. Med. 184, 2371–2384 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Pauschinger, M. et al. Enteroviral RNA replication in the myocardium of patients with left ventricular dysfunction and clinically suspected myocarditis. Circulation 99, 889–895 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Huber, S.A. Animal models of human disease—Autoimmunity in myocarditis: relevance of animal models. Clin. Immunol. Immunopathol. 83, 93–102 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Caforio, A.L., Goldman, J.H., Haven, A.J., Baig, K.M., & McKenna, W.J. Evidence for autoimmunity to myosin and other heart-specific autoantigens in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and their relatives. Int. J. Cardiol. 54, 157–163 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Neu, N. et al. Cardiac myosin induces myocarditis in genetically predisposed mice . J. Immunol. 139, 3630– 3636 (1987).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Hill, S.L. & Rose, N.R. in The Molecular Pathology of Autoimmune Diseases 2nd ed. (eds. Theofilopoulos. A.N. & Bona, C.A.) (Gordon and Breach, Langhorne, Pennsylvania, in the press).

  10. Neu, N., Craig, S.W., Rose, N.R., Alvarez, F. & Beisel, K.W. Coxsackievirus induced myocarditis in mice: cardiac myosin autoantibodies do not cross-react with the virus. Clin. Exp. Immunol. 69, 566–574 (1987).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Miller, S.D. et al. Persistent infection with Theiler's virus leads to CNS autoimmunity via epitope spreading. Nature Med. 3, 1133 –1136 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, MMI/Room E5014, Baltimore, 21205 , Maryland, USA

    Noel R. Rose

Authors
  1. Noel R. Rose
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rose, N. Viral damage or ‘molecular mimicry’—placing the blame in myocarditis. Nat Med 6, 631–632 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/76199

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/76199

  • Springer Nature America, Inc.

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation