FTY720 (Gilenya) treatment prevents spontaneous autoimmune myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathy in transgenic HLA-DQ8-BALB/c mice

Although dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is often caused by viral infections, it frequently involves autoimmune mechanisms associated with particular HLA-DR and DQ alleles. Our homozygous HLA-DQ8Ab0 transgenic mice in the BALB/c background (HLA-DQ8BALB/c-Tg) developed early and progressive fatal heart failure from 4 to 5 weeks of age. Clinical signs of the disease included cyanotic eyes, tachycardia with dyspnea (from pale to cyanotic limbs), and terminal whole body edema. Sick mice had extremely dilated hearts, enlarged liver and spleen, and pleural/peritoneal effusion.

Source: Cardiovascular Pathology - May 16, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Ferenc Boldizsar, Oktavia Tarjanyi, Katalin Olasz, Akos Hegyi, Katalin Mikecz, Tibor T. Glant, Tibor A. Rauch Tags: Original Article Source Type: research