Coxsackievirus genome in myocardium of patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy.
Enteroviruses are known as major infectious agents for inflammatory heart diseases such as myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is characterized by replacement of right ventricular myocardium by fatty and fibrous tissue. In about 65% of patients inflammatory infiltrates suggest an inflammatory or infectious etiopathogenesis. To test this hypothesis, we investigated endomyocardial biopsies of patients with ARVC, with myocarditis or DCM, and from patients with non-inflammatory cardiac disorders for the presence of enteroviral genome. Enteroviral RNA with homology to coxsackieviruses type B was detected in 3 of 8 patients with ARVC (37.5%), in 7 of 23 patients with myocarditis or DCM (30.4%), but in none of 5 patient with non-infectious myocardial diseases (p < 0.05 compared to ARVC patients). These results support earlier suggestions that coxsackievirus infection of the myocardium is possibly related to the pathogenesis of ARVC.
Grumbach
I M
IM
Department of Internal Medicine, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany.
Heim
A
A
Vonhof
S
S
Stille-Siegener
M
M
Mall
G
G
Gonska
B D
BD
Kreuzer
H
H
Andreas
S
S
Figulla
H R
HR
D000328:Adult; D019571:Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia / Q000821:virology*; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D029822:Enterovirus B, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid