Presence of Circulating Anti-Myosin Antibodies in Endomyocardial Fibrosis

Abstract

Endomyocardial Fibrosis is a tropical disease in which the heart cannot open properly to receive blood due to a scar that covers its inner layer. It affects mainly children and adolescents, and has a poor prognosis because the cause and mechanisms of scarring are unknown. The conventional treatment is frustrating and does not alter the natural history of the disease. Despite affecting several million people worldwide there has been little investigation on the mechanisms of the disease or drug development to improve its prognosis. In this study we investigate the presence of antibodies against the myocardial cells of African patients with severe and advanced EMF aiming at uncovering new pathways for the disease. Our results reveal that EMF patients have anti-myocardial antibodies in their blood. The reaction of these antibodies with the heart may be one of the mechanisms involved in the genesis of the fibrotic lesions. This knowledge may help in diagnosing the condition and provide alternatives for its management, using drugs that reduce the impact of the circulating antibodies in the cardiac tissue. The significance of these results needs confirmation on studies involving larger number of subjects due to frequent finding of antiheart antibodies in African populations with heart failure of any cause