Genetics of Autoimmune Myocarditis

Abstract

Autoimmune heart diseases in humans are multifactorial and genetically complex. Fortunately a great deal has been learned from animal models. They have established that a variety of infectious or toxic insults can lead to autoimmune heart disease in genetically susceptible animals. These animal models suggest that autoimmune heart disease has multiple etiologies, with differing mechanisms but overlapping genetic determinants culminating in the same end stage inflammatory heart disease. In this review we will focus on autoimmune heart disease caused by two different infectious agents, Trypanosoma cruzi and Coxsackievirus B3. Both pathogens are known to infect the heart and are largely cleared after a brief illness. In certain susceptible individuals, however, a chronic, putative autoimmune attack is initiated. We review the evidence that post infectious chronic myocarditis is indeed autoimmune in nature and discuss our recent findings about the common genetic elements that may predispose to autoimmunity and autoimmune disease.