Regulation of the immune response during infectious myocarditis.

Infectious myocarditis (IM) is a commonly undiagnosed condition that may cause several heart diseases, including dilated cardiomyopathy and chronic heart failure. The understanding of the physiopathology of myocardial inflammation is crucial for a timely diagnosis and for the control of the tissue damage, which may occur in some cases of IM. Of note, some experimental studies suggest that dilated cardiomyopathy could be a consequence of untreated IM. However, further research is required to address the molecular mechanisms that may link these two clinical entities. Here we review the mechanisms involved in the regulation at different levels of the immune response during IM, with a special focus on diagnostic and therapeutic perspectives of molecules that have been linked to the development of IM and the resulting chronic heart diseases.