Viral myocarditis induced by Coxsackievirus B3 in A.BY/SnJ mice: analysis of changes in the myocardial proteome

Enteroviral myocarditis displays highly diverse clinical phenotypes ranging from mild dyspnoea or chest pain to cardiogenic shock and death. Despite detailed studies of the virus life cycle in vitro and in vivo, the molecular interplay between host and virus in disease progression is largely unresolved. Murine models of Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3)-induced myocarditis well mimic the human disease patterns and can thus be explored to study mechanisms leading from acute to chronic myocarditis. Here, we present a 2-D gel-based proteomic survey of the changes in the murine cardiac proteome that occurs following infection with CVB3. In total, 136 distinct proteins were affected. Proteins, which are involved in immunity and defense and protein metabolism/modification displayed pronounced changes in intensity not only during acute but also at later stages of CVB3 myocarditis. Proteins involved in maintenance of cell structure and associated proteins were particularly influenced in the acute phase of myocarditis, whereas reduction of levels of metabolic enzymes was observed in chronic myocarditis. Studies about changes in protein intensities were complemented by an analysis of protein phosphorylation that revealed infection-associated changes in the phosphorylation of myosin binding protein C, atrial and ventricular isoforms of myosin regulatory light chain 2, desmin, and Rab GDP dissociation inhibitor beta-2

Comparative immunoproteome analysis of the response of susceptible A.BY/SnJ and resistant C57BL/6 mice to Coxsackievirus B3-infection

Both, innate and cell-mediated immunity contribute to prevention of chronic myocarditis and consecutively, cardiomyopathy. Thus, in resistant C57BL/6 mice myocarditis induced by Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3)-infection is abrogated by immune-mediated mechanisms. However, susceptible A.BY/SnJ mice develop dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) due to chronic myocarditis. Cardiac auto-antibodies have been shown to play a pivotal role in the initiation and/or progression of inflammatory DCM. In order to investigate differences in the autoimmune response of susceptible and resistant mice to infection with CVB3, the patterns of autoantibodies reacting with heart proteins in A.BY/SnJ and C57BL/6 mice were profiled by 2-D Western blot analysis during the acute and chronic phases of myocarditis up to three months, when the pathophysiological phenotype in the susceptible mice has progressed to DCM. In the early phase of infection both mouse strains displayed similar autoantibody patterns. In contrast, at later time points compared to the resistant C57BL/6 strain susceptible A.BY/SnJ mice displayed a much stronger autoimmune response against proteins associated with cell structure, protein transport as well as primary metabolic processes such as energy production. During chronic myocarditis strong antibody responses against myosin heavy chain 6, mitochondrial and heat shock proteins were observed in A.BY/SnJ mice. Antibodies directed against alpha-enolase, serotransferrin, radixin and two processed myosin protein species accumulated late and only in A.BY/SnJ mice suffering from inflammatory DCM. Functional assignment of the target proteins of cardiac autoantibodies indicates that these might be directly involved in cardiac dysfunction

Cohort profile: Greifswald Approach to Individualized Medicine (GANI_MED)

BACKGROUND: Individualized Medicine aims at providing optimal treatment for an individual patient at a given time based on his specific genetic and molecular characteristics. This requires excellent clinical stratification of patients as well as the availability of genomic data and biomarkers as prerequisites for the development of novel diagnostic tools and therapeutic strategies. The University Medicine Greifswald, Germany, has launched the "Greifswald Approach to Individualized Medicine" (GANI_MED) project to address major challenges of Individualized Medicine. Herein, we describe the implementation of the scientific and clinical infrastructure that allows future translation of findings relevant to Individualized Medicine into clinical practice.Methods/design: Clinical patient cohorts (N < 5,000) with an emphasis on metabolic and cardiovascular diseases are being established following a standardized protocol for the assessment of medical history, laboratory biomarkers, and the collection of various biosamples for bio-banking purposes. A multi-omics based biomarker assessment including genome-wide genotyping, transcriptome, metabolome, and proteome analyses complements the multi-level approach of GANI_MED. Comparisons with the general background population as characterized by our Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) are performed. A central data management structure has been implemented to capture and integrate all relevant clinical data for research purposes. Ethical research projects on informed consent procedures, reporting of incidental findings, and economic evaluations were launched in parallel