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Updated: Jul 12, 2026
Mouse Models for Graft Arteriosclerosis
Published on: May 14, 2013
Lethal autoimmune myocarditis in interferon-gamma receptor-deficient mice: enhanced disease severity by impaired
U Eriksson1, M O Kurrer, R Bingisser
1Medical Intensive Care Unit, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland. klinerr@usz.unizh.ch
Background:
Interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) is an essential cytokine in the regulation of inflammatory responses in autoimmune diseases. Little is known about its role in inflammatory heart disease.
Methods And Results:
We showed that IFN-gamma receptor-deficient mice (IFN-gammaR(-/-)) on a BALB/c background immunized with a peptide derived from cardiac alpha-myosin heavy chain develop severe myocarditis with high mortality. Although myocarditis subsided in wild-type mice after 3 weeks, IFN-gammaR(-/-) mice showed persistent disease. The persistent inflammation was accompanied by vigorous in vitro CD4 T-cell responses and impaired inducible nitric oxide synthase expression, together with evidence of impaired nitric oxide production in IFN-gammaR(-/-) hearts. Treatment of wild-type mice with the nitric oxide synthetase inhibitor N:-nitro-l-arginine-methyl-ester enhanced in vitro CD4 T-cell proliferation and prevented healing of myocarditis.
Conclusions:
Our data provide evidence that IFN-gamma protects mice from lethal autoimmune myocarditis by inducing the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase followed by the downregulation of T-cell responses.
