Serkan Belkaya, Amy R Kontorovich, Minji Byun, Sonia Mulero-Navarro, Fanny Bajolle, Aurelie Cobat, Rebecca Josowitz, Yuval Itan, Raphaelle Quint, Lazaro Lorenzo, Soraya Boucherit, Cecile Stoven, Sylvie Di Filippo, Laurent Abel, Shen-Ying Zhang, Damien Bonnet, Bruce D Gelb, Jean-Laurent Casanova
BACKGROUND: Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle that can follow various viral infections. Why children only rarely develop life-threatening acute viral myocarditis (AVM), given that the causal viral infections are common, is unknown. Genetic lesions might underlie such susceptibilities. Mouse genetic studies demonstrated that interferon (IFN)-α/β immunity defects increased susceptibility to virus-induced myocarditis. Moreover, variations in human TLR3, a potent inducer of IFNs, were proposed to underlie AVM...
April 4, 2017: Journal of the American College of Cardiology