Potential role of humoral immunity in cardiac dysfunction of patients suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy

This research was conducted to evaluate the role played by the humoral immune system in cardiac dysfunction among dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patients, as enabled by immunoadsorption therapy (IA) that effectively removes functionally active cardiac autoantibodies from plasma. Various circulating autoantibodies have been detected among patients suffering from DCM. Before IA, antibodies were purified from plasma of 45 DCM patients (left ventricular ejection fraction [LVEF] 10%) in calcium transients (mean reduction: −16.5 ± 1.9%) and a simultaneous reduction (>10%) of cell shortening (mean reduction: −21.2 ± 1.8%) on cardiomyocytes (p < 0.001) (cardiodepressant group). Antibodies from 16 patients did not significantly influence calcium transients and cell shortening (