Thyroiditis and Myocarditis: A Tale of Two Diseases

Abstract

This chapter discusses a series of studies on experimental animals for investigations of the mechanisms for overcoming self/non-self discrimination in autoimmune diseases, thyroiditis and myocarditis, and the determinants that lead from benign autoimmunity to autoimmune disease. In these studies two experimental models were used: for mechanistic studies mouse with experimentally induced or spontaneous thyroiditis was employed; and Coxsackievirus-induced myocarditis in mice was used to study the role of infection in inducing autoimmune disease. The two human diseases, thyroiditis and myocarditis were matched with counterpart animal models of autoimmune disease induced by defined antigens. In the myocarditis model, by distinguishing the early, viral phase of myocarditis from the autoimmune myocarditis, the causative antigen of the disease was identified as cardiac myosin. Comparison of the effects of immunization using homologous thyroglobulin and with immunization using a foreign cross-reacting antigen, suggest that the mouse-specific determinants of thyroglobulin are the most important epitopes in inducing a pathological autoimmune response in mice. The chapter summarizes the studies on the genetics, environmental factors, and disease progression of thryroiditis and myocarditis in the two experimental mouse models.