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Autoimmunity and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy

04-27-2011 01:41 PM CET | Health & Medicine

Press release from: Pabst Science Publishers

"Despite great improvements in heart failure therapy, the prognosis of patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) remains poor. One of the most important reasons is that the present heart failure management is aimed mostly at restoration of neurohormonal balance, rather than targeting primary causes of the disease. As a matter of fact, a substantial subgroup of DCM and chronic heart failure is accompanied by autoimmune mechanism in particular by a wide spectrum of autoantibodies," Prof. Dr. Michael Fu (Goeteborg/Sweden) reports.

He notes three challenges:

"At first antibody measurement needs to be improved and standardized. There is a number of immunoassays available today. But none of them is satisfactory.

Secondly, we have to exhaustively study fundamental mechanisms for autoimmune initiation and regulation. Without full understanding mechanisms, it is difficult to develop effective immune therapy. In this context we are still standing at the beginning of our race.

Thirdly, as autoimmunity is often complicated by individual genetic susceptibility and environmental factors etc, it is anticipated that different individuals may have different autoimmune- and genetic spectrums so that the future immune therapy should be tailored from individual perspective."


Michael Fu: Autoimmunity and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.
in: Conrad, Chan, Fritzler, Sack, Shoenfeld, Wiik (Eds.) From Etiopathogenesis to the Prediction of Autoimmune Diseases: Relevance of Autoantibodies.
Pabst, Lengerich/Berlin, 666 pages, ISBN 978-3-89967-409-5

Pabst Science Publishers (Lengerich/Westfalia, Germany) is publishing ten psychological and nine medical journals; furthermore, Pabst is publishing more than hundred psychological and medical books per year – partly specialized scientific literature, partly specialist literature written for laypeople.

Pabst Science Publishers
Eichengrund 28
49525 Lengerich
Tel. 05484-308
Fax 05484-550
E-Mail: pabst.publishers@t-online.de
Internet: www.pabst-publishers.de

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