Abstract

IDENTIFICATION OF SUSCEPTIBILITY TO VIRAL- MYOCARDITIS BY DNA MICROARRAY GLOBAL GENE EXPRESSION: A HYPOTHESIS

Gustavo Martínez-Delgado and José D. Méndez*

ABSTRACT

Myocarditis is an inflammatory cardiac disease triggered by a variety of infectious and non-infectious factors. This disease has been associated with infection caused by common viruses such as enteroviruses, adenovirus, parvovirus B19 (PVB19) or human herpesvirus 6 (HHV6). Nevertheless, only 10-20% of patients infected develop acute viral myocarditis, which suggests the participation of susceptibility host factors to the development of myocarditis. Since studies are necessary to understand the molecular mechanisms of the progression from viral infection to myocarditis and the consequent dilated cardiomyopathy, we state to analyze the transcriptional profile of healthy individuals and viral infected patients with suspected myocarditis using high-density oligonucleotide probe-based microarrays. DNA microarrays are recognized as a powerful tool for large-scale gene expression measurements. This approach will allow screening the host genetic response for identifying the activated genes during viral-induced myocarditis, and the functional analysis of those genes give direction about the immune response to viral infection in myocarditis. The identification of susceptibility genes affecting the progression of viral infection has clinical relevance to improve diagnosis and prognosis of myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathy especially in population where the information on this subject is scarce.

Keywords: Viral Infection, Myocarditis, Human, quantitative PCR, DNA microarrays.