Cardiac failure occurs when the heart is unable to deliver a sufficient supply of oxygenated blood to serve the metabolic needs of the peripheral tissues. There are a large number of primary causes of failure, virtually all of which may be accompanied by myocardial inflammation as an """"""""adaptive"""""""" process that may actually do more harm than good. Autoimmunity to cardiac antigens, cardiac myosin in particular, may develop during inflammatory heart disease in humans and experimental animals after a wide range of infections, ischemic damage and cardiotoxic drug treatment. A powerful model of experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM) has been developed that is initiated by immunization of susceptible strains of mice with purified myosin in complete Freund's adjuvant. Much has been done during the past decade to characterize the EAM model and it is known to be (i) mediated, at least initially, by CD4+ T cells and (ii) biphasic, with a proinflammatory phase followed by a phase of repair and fibrosis. Our recent work has focused on the basic mechanisms of EAM pathogenesis with an emphasis on the prevention and treatment of autoimmune myocarditis by restoration of peripheral immune tolerance and byangiotensin converting enzyme inhibition. We have assembled a research team with expertise in the pathology, genetics, immunology, and molecular and cellular biology of EAM, and propose to continue our work with the following Specific Aims: (i) to elucidate the molecular pathogenesis of the inflammatory and resolution phases of myosin-induced EAM, with a focus on the functional immunology of these processes, (ii)to investigate the antigen specificities of the immune responses in EAM and the potential of peripheral tolerance induction for the treatment of ongoing disease and (iii)to explore the role of the renin angiotensin system in EAM pathogenesis.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
3R01HL080692-01A2S1
Application #
7339181
Study Section
Atherosclerosis and Inflammation of the Cardiovascular System Study Section (AICS)
Program Officer
Adhikari, Bishow B
Project Start
2006-08-01
Project End
2011-05-31
Budget Start
2006-08-01
Budget End
2007-05-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$19,013
Indirect Cost
Name
Northwestern University at Chicago
Department
Pathology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
005436803
City
Chicago
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60611
Epting, Conrad L; Emmer, Brian T; Du, Nga Y et al. (2017) Cell Cycle Inhibition To Treat Sleeping Sickness. MBio 8:
Bonney, Kevin M; Engman, David M (2015) Autoimmune pathogenesis of Chagas heart disease: looking back, looking ahead. Am J Pathol 185:1537-47
Bonney, Kevin M; Taylor, Joann M; Thorp, Edward B et al. (2015) Depletion of regulatory T cells decreases cardiac parasitosis and inflammation in experimental Chagas disease. Parasitol Res 114:1167-78
Coates, Bria M; Sullivan, David P; Makanji, Ming Y et al. (2013) Endothelial transmigration by Trypanosoma cruzi. PLoS One 8:e81187
Daniels, Melvin D; Hyland, Kenneth V; Wang, Kegiang et al. (2008) Recombinant cardiac myosin fragment induces experimental autoimmune myocarditis via activation of Th1 and Th17 immunity. Autoimmunity 41:490-9
Bahk, Thomas J; Daniels, Melvin D; Leon, Juan S et al. (2008) Comparison of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition and angiotensin II receptor blockade for the prevention of experimental autoimmune myocarditis. Int J Cardiol 125:85-93