Beschreibung:
Heart failure (HF) is often associated with inflammation and activation of the immune system. Moreover, the development to HF has been shown to be accompanied by autoimmune reactions since cardiac autoantibodies were identified in many studies. However, the role of T cells in load-induced HF had not been addressed previously. We hypothesized that an aortic constriction leading to hypertrophy and subsequently to HF can activate autoreactive T cells, which contribute to the progression of the disease. To examine autoimmune responses towards a cardiomyocyte-specific antigen, cMy-mOVA mice were...