Objective: Myocarditis is an inflammatory heart muscle disease associated with cardiac dysfunction, and autoimmunity is considered to play an important role in the pathogenesis of myocarditis. CXCL13 and its receptor CXCR5 have been reported to be associated with many diseases including some cancers and inflammatory diseases, but so far there has been no report on CXCR5/CXCL13 expression in myocarditis.
Materials and methods: With a mouse experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM) model, it was found that the mRNA and protein expression of both CXCR5 and CXCL13 were increased in myocardial tissue in the EAM mice. This revealed certain connection between CXCR5/CXCL13 with autoimmune myocarditis, so CXCR5 and CXCL13 may be used as a biomarker for autoimmune myocarditis diagnosis.
Results: The results also demonstrated increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17 and TNF-α in the serum of myocardial tissue in the EAM mice. These pro-inflammatory cytokines may be important targets for developing new drugs in treating myocarditis.
Conclusions: The current study established an association between CXCR5/CXCL13, autoimmune myocarditis and pro-inflammatory cytokines, and provided sound basis for further studies on mechanism and treatment of autoimmune myocarditis.