β2-Microglobulin-Associated Regulation of Interferon-γ and Virus-Specific Immunoglobulin G Confer Resistance Against the Development of Chronic Coxsackievirus Myocarditis

• Published in: The American journal of pathology Vol. 162; no. 5; pp. 1709 - 1720
• Main Authors: Klingel, Karin, Schnorr, Jens-Jörg, Sauter, Martina, Szalay, Gudrun, Kandolf, Reinhard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bethesda, MD Elsevier Inc 01.05.2003; American Society for Investigative Pathology
• Subjects: Animal Models; Biological and medical sciences; Cardiology. Vascular system; Experimental viral diseases and models; Heart; Infectious diseases; Medical sciences; Myocarditis. Cardiomyopathies; Viral diseases; Immunohistochemistry; Coxsackievirus; Animal model; Picornaviridae; IgG; Cardiovascular disease; Enterovirus; Myocardial disease; Prevention; Heart disease; Mechanism of action; Immunoglobulins; Biochemical analysis; Cytokine; Rodentia; Infection; Virus; Myocarditis; Pathology; Vertebrata; Chronic; Experimental disease; Mammalia; Treatment; Mouse; Animal; Viral disease; Gamma interferon; β2-Microglobulin
• ISSN: 0002-9440; 1525-2191
• DOI: 10.1016/S0002-9440(10)64305-2

To gain insight into the strategies of the immune system to confer resistance against the development of chronic coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) myocarditis we compared the course of the disease in C57BL/6 mice, β2-microglobulin knockout (β2m −/−) mice, and perforin-deficient (perforin −/−) mice. We found that perforin −/− mice as well as immunocompetent C57BL/6 mice reveal a resistant phenotype with complete elimination of the virus from the heart in the course of acute myocarditis. In contrast, myocardial CVB3 infection of β2m −/− mice was characterized by a significantly higher virus load associated with a fulminant acute inflammatory response and, as a consequence of virus persistence, by the development of chronic myocarditis. Interferon-γ secretion of stimulated spleen cells was found to be significantly delayed in β2m −/− mice compared to perforin −/− mice and C57BL/6 control mice during acute myocarditis. In addition, generation of virus-specific IgG and neutralizing antibodies were found to be significantly decreased in β2m −/− mice during acute infection. From these results we conclude that protection against the development of chronic myocarditis strongly depends on the expression of β2m, influencing the catabolism of IgG as well as the production of protective cytokines, such as interferon-γ. Moreover, CVB3-induced cardiac injury and prevention of chronic myocarditis was found to be unrelated to perforin-mediated cytotoxicity in our model system.