Detection Of Viral RNA By Molecular Hybridization And Investigation Of The Mechanisms For Immunopathogenic Injury In Viral Myocarditis

Viral myocarditis is a quite popular disease of cardiovascular system. In recent years, the clinical significance of acute viral myocarditis has been increasingly appreciated. Subacute and chronic forms of myocarditis have also been recognised as important causes of morbidity and mortality, Coxsackie B viruses are generally accepted as the most common agents caused viral myocarditis. Confirmation of the clinical suspicion of viral myocarditis demands demonstration of replicating virus inside myocardial cells. It is exceedingly difficult to detect infectious virus or viral antigen inside cardiac tissues of the patients with viral myocarditis by conventional methods because the period of viral replication inside myocardial cells is only about one or two weeks. There has been much speculation on the mechanisms for cardiac injury although antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity and viral specific CTL are known to be involved in immunopathologic processes. However, the sequence of events and identity of cells involved in lesion formation are not known and the mechanism by which effector cells injure cardiocytes remains obsure. The kinetic changes and effects of monocyte-macrophage as well as the monokines, involvement of the neuroendocrine system in immunopathologic injury and regulatory effects on immune function in the pathogenesis of myocarditis have not been reported as far as we know.In the present study, three cDNA fragments pCBâ…¢/51, pCBâ…¢/35 and pCBâ…¢/29,covering almost 90% of the coxsackie B3 genome, were recombined and cl...