Rl. Liao et al., Infusion of light chains from patients with cardiac amyloidosis causes diastolic dysfunction in isolated mouse hearts, CIRCULATION, 104(14), 2001, pp. 1594-1597
Citations number
13
Categorie Soggetti
Cardiovascular & Respiratory Systems","Cardiovascular & Hematology Research
Background-Primary (AL) amyloidosis is a plasma cell dyscrasia characterize
d by clonal production of immunoglobulin light chains (LC) resulting in the
subsequent systemic deposition of extracellular amyloid fibrils. Cardiac i
nvolvement is marked by the hemodynamic pattern of impaired diastolic filli
ng and restrictive cardiomyopathy. Although cardiac death in patients with
AL amyloidosis is usually associated with extensive myocardial infiltration
, the infiltration alone does not correlated with the degree of heart failu
re or survival. We hypothesized that circulating monoclonal LC may directly
impair cardiac function, in addition to any mechanical effects of amyloid
fibril deposition. Therefore, we examined the effects of amyloid LC protein
s on diastolic and systolic cardiac function, as measured in an isolated mo
use heart model.
Methods and Results-LC were obtained from patients with nonamyloid disease
or from those with noncardiac, mild cardiac. and severe cardiac involved AL
amyloidosis. Saline or LC (100 mug/mL) was infused into a Langendorff-perf
used, isovolumically contracting mouse heart. Saline and control, noncardia
c, and mild-cardiac LC infusions did not alter ex vivo cardiac function. In
contrast, infusion of sever cardiac LC resulted in marked impairment of ve
ntricular relaxation with preservation of contractile function.
Conclusion-These results demonstrate that infusion of LC from patients with
AL amyloidosis result in diastolic dysfunction similar to that observed in
patients with cardiac involved AL amyloidosis, and they suggest that amylo
id LC proteins may contribute directly to the pathogenesis and the rapid pr
ogression of amyloid cardiomyopathy, independent of extracellular fibril de
position.