Identification of a novel cardiac epitope triggering T-cell responses in patients with myocardial infarction
Nils Hapke, Margarete Heinrichs, DiyaaElDin Ashour, Elena Vogel, Ulrich Hofmann, Stefan Frantz, Gustavo Ramos
Abstract
T-cells contribute to pathophysiological processes in myocardial diseases, including myocardial infarction (MI) and heart failure (HF). Antigen-specificity is a hallmark of T-cell responses but the cardiac antigens that trigger heart-directed T-cell responses in patients have not yet been uncovered, thus posing a roadblock to translation. In the present exploratory study, we identified a peptide fragment of the beta-1 adrenergic receptor (ADRB1) that elicits CD4+ T-cell responses after myocardial infarction in patients with a defined HLA haplotype. Our observations may advance the development of tools to monitor other antigen-specific immune responses in patients.