AUTOIMMUNITY IN HEART-DISEASE - MECHANISMS AND GENETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY

Recent studies of heart disease suggest that immunologically mediated processes often accompany cardiac injury and can contribute to pathoge nesis. Murine models of myocarditis have provided insight into the mec hanisms by which autoimmune responses to cardiac antigens arise and ca use tissue pathology, It is now evident that T cells, cytokines and an tibodies can all contribute to cardiac injury. Furthermore, murine mod els have demonstrated that both the propensity to develop autoreactivi ty following cardiac injury and the vulnerability of the heart to thes e responses are under genetic control. Continued studies will help to identify susceptibility genes and might aid in the development of stra tegies to protect individuals at risk from immunologically mediated da mage following cardiac injury.