A novel model for pathogenesis of autoimmune heart failure: The role of dendritic cells

Autoimmune diseases present a significant health challenge. Animal models of autoimmunity have shed great insight into both disease pathogenesis as well as into the workings of the immune system in general. Myocarditis is an autoimmune disease with epidemiological links to cardiotropic pathogens; however, many cases of the disease are sudden and unexplained. It has been proposed that a dysregulated adaptive immune response against cardiotropic pathogens can turn itself upon healthy human tissue, due to similarities between pathogenic and cardiac antigens. We discuss the critical role of dendritic cells (DCs) in the induction of myocarditis, and propose a model by which coincidental infection or cardiac tissue damage may represent the initial step in myocardial inflammation and subsequent myocarditis.