Explanipedia

Underdiagnosed Viral Infections in Heart Failure: Metagenomic Sequencing Reveals Association with Left Ventricular Dysfunction Open

Britta Altmann, Gordon Wiegleb, Dominik Harms, Ganna Aleshcheva, C.–Thomas Bock , et al. · 2025

BACKGROUND Viral infections are a major cause of inflammatory heart disease, but conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) often fails to detect the causative pathogens, limiting diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. We investigated whe…

<span>STAT3</span> expression is reduced in cardiac pericytes in <span>HFpEF</span> and its loss reduces cellular adhesion and induces pericyte senescence Open

Leah Rebecca Vanicek, Ariane Fischer, Mariano Ruz Jurado, Anita Tamiato, Tara Procida‐Kowalski , et al. · 2025

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) accounts for half of heart failure cases and is characterised by reduced pericyte coverage. While the contributions of other cardiac cell types to HFpEF are well‐studied, the role of p…

Discovery of miRNAs unique to actively transcribed erythroparvovirus infection in heart failure patients Open

Ganna Aleshcheva, S. Salih, Christian Baumeier, Felicitas Escher, C.–Thomas Bock , et al. · 2025

Aims miRNAs, small non‐coding RNAs, play key roles in gene regulation, cell differentiation and tissue development. They influence viral infection outcomes by directly interacting with viral genomes or modifying the host microenvironment. …

Author Correction: GPR15-mediated T cell recruitment during acute viral myocarditis facilitated virus elimination and improved outcome Open

Bastian Stoffers, Hanna Wolf, Lucas Bacmeister, Svenja Kupsch, Tamara Vico , et al. · 2024

Epstein-Barr Virus Lytic Transcripts Correlate with the Degree of Myocardial Inflammation in Heart Failure Patients Open

Christian Baumeier, Dominik Harms, Britta Altmann, Ganna Aleshcheva, Gordon Wiegleb , et al. · 2024

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is frequently found in endomyocardial biopsies (EMBs) from patients with heart failure, but the detection of EBV-specific DNA has not been associated with progressive hemodynamic deterioration. In this paper, w…

GPR15-dependent T cell recruitment in the acute phase of viral myocarditis is associated with improved virus elimination and outcome Open

Diana Lindner, Hanna Bräuninger, Bastian Stoffers, L Bacmeister, S Kupsch , et al. · 2024

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public Institution(s). Main funding source(s): DZHK (German Centre for Cardiovascular Research) Background Myocarditis is an inflammatory heart disease that is primarily caused by viral pat…

Etiologies and predictors of mortality in an all-comer population of patients with non-ischemic heart failure Open

Sebastian Göbel, A. S. Braun, Omar Hahad, Ursula Henning, Moritz Brandt , et al. · 2024

Background Despite progress in diagnosis and therapy of heart failure (HF), etiology and risk stratification remain elusive in many patients. Methods The My Biopsy HF Study (German clinical trials register number: DRKS22178) is a retrospec…

Comparison of diagnostic algorithms in clinically suspected viral myocarditis: Agreement between cardiovascular magnetic resonance, endomyocardial biopsy, and troponin T Open

H.A. Zainal, Andreas Rolf, Hui Zhou, Moisés Vásquez, Felicitas Escher , et al. · 2024

In clinically suspected viral myocarditis, all diagnostic approaches reflect the pathophysiological elements of myocardial inflammation; however, the differing underlying drivers only partially overlap. The EMB and CMR diagnostic algorithm…

GPR15-mediated T cell recruitment during acute viral myocarditis facilitated virus elimination and improved outcome Open

Bastian Stoffers, Hanna Wolf, Lucas Bacmeister, Svenja Kupsch, Tamara Vico , et al. · 2023

Interleukin-17 and interferon-gamma in patients with different forms of non-ischemic cardiomyopathies Open

Veronika Zach, Claudia F. Plappert, Ganna Aleshcheva, Christian Baumeier, Lina Alasfar , et al. · 2023

Introduction Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) characterized by left ventricular dilation and impaired left ventricular function represents a common and severe cause of heart failure (HF). Predominantly affecting younger patients, it is conside…

Cardiac Involvement Due to COVID-19: Insights from Imaging and Histopathology Open

Valentina O. Püntmann, Anastasia Shchendrygina, Carlos Rodriguez Bolanos, Mame Madjiguène Ka, Silvia Valbuena-López , et al. · 2023

Lingering cardiac symptoms are increasingly recognised complications of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, now referred to as post-acute cardiovascular sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC). In the acute phase, cardiac injury…

MicroRNAs as novel biomarkers and potential therapeutic options for inflammatory cardiomyopathy Open

Ganna Aleshcheva, Christian Baumeier, Dominik Harms, C.–Thomas Bock, Felicitas Escher , et al. · 2023

Aims Inflammation of the heart is a complex biological and pathophysiological response of the immune system to a variety of injuries leading to tissue damage and heart failure. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) emerge as pivotal players in the developmen…

Advancing Precision Medicine in Myocarditis: Current Status and Future Perspectives in Endomyocardial Biopsy-Based Diagnostics and Therapeutic Approaches Open

Christian Baumeier, Dominik Harms, Ganna Aleshcheva, Ulrich Groß, Felicitas Escher , et al. · 2023

The diagnosis and specific and causal treatment of myocarditis and inflammatory cardiomyopathy remain a major clinical challenge. Despite the rapid development of new imaging techniques, endomyocardial biopsies remain the gold standard for…

Myocardial tissue changes detected by cardiac MRI in a patient with suspected systemic sarcoidosis Open

Byambasuren Vanchin, Mame Madjiguène Ka, Christophe Arendt, Felicitas Escher, Eike Nagel , et al. · 2023

Background The role of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in the early management of chronic cardiac inflammatory conditions is growing. Our case enlightens the benefit of quantitative mapping in the monitoring and treatment guidance in sy…

FOXO3A acts as immune response modulator in human virus-negative inflammatory cardiomyopathy Open

Kamila Makrutzki-Zlotek, Felicitas Escher, Zehra Karadeniz, Ganna Aleshcheva, Heiko Pietsch , et al. · 2023

Objective Inflammatory cardiomyopathy is characterised by inflammatory infiltrates leading to cardiac injury, left ventricular (LV) dilatation and reduced LV ejection fraction (LVEF). Several viral pathogens and autoimmune phenomena may ca…

Intramyocardial Inflammation after COVID-19 Vaccination: An Endomyocardial Biopsy-Proven Case Series Open

Christian Baumeier, Ganna Aleshcheva, Dominik Harms, Ulrich Groß, Christian W. Hamm , et al. · 2022

Myocarditis in response to COVID-19 vaccination has been reported since early 2021. In particular, young male individuals have been identified to exhibit an increased risk of myocardial inflammation following the administration of mRNA-bas…

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement with the Self-Expandable Core Valve Evolut Prosthesis Using the Cusp-Overlap vs. Tricusp-View Open

Philipp M. Doldi, Lukas Stolz, Felicitas Escher, Julius Steffen, Jonas Gmeiner , et al. · 2022

Despite the rapid increase in experience and technological improvement, the incidence of conduction disturbances in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) with the self-expandable CoreValve Evolut valve remains h…

Missense Variant E1295K of Sodium Channel SCN5A Associated With Recurrent Ventricular Fibrillation and Myocardial Inflammation Open

Wolfgang Poller, Felicitas Escher, Jan Haas, Bettina Heidecker, Heinz‐Peter Schultheiß , et al. · 2022

SCN5A was considered an exclusively cardiac expressed ion channel but discovered to also act as a novel innate immune sensor. We report on a young SCN5A variant carrier with recurrent ventricular fibrillation and massive myocardial inflamm…

Interferon-β Suppresses Transcriptionally Active Parvovirus B19 Infection in Viral Cardiomyopathy: A Subgroup Analysis of the BICC-Trial Open

Heinz‐Peter Schultheiß, C.–Thomas Bock, Ganna Aleshcheva, Christian Baumeier, Wolfgang Poller , et al. · 2022

Human parvovirus B19 (B19V) is the predominant virus currently detected in endomyocardial biopsies (EMBs). Recent findings indicate that, specifically, transcriptionally active B19V with detectable viral RNA is of prognostic relevance in i…

Cpxm2 as a novel candidate for cardiac hypertrophy and failure in hypertension Open

K Grabowski, Laura Herlan, Anika Witten, Fatimunnisa Qadri, Andreas Eisenreich , et al. · 2021

Transcriptional Active Parvovirus B19 Infection Predicts Adverse Long-Term Outcome in Patients with Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy Open

Felicitas Escher, Ganna Aleshcheva, Heiko Pietsch, Christian Baumeier, Ulrich Groß , et al. · 2021

Parvovirus B19 (B19V) is the predominant cardiotropic virus currently found in endomyocardial biopsies (EMBs). However, direct evidence showing a causal relationship between B19V and progression of inflammatory cardiomyopathy are still mis…

Viral Myocarditis—From Pathophysiology to Treatment Open

Heinz‐Peter Schultheiß, Christian Baumeier, Ganna Aleshcheva, C.–Thomas Bock, Felicitas Escher · 2021

The diagnosis of acute and chronic myocarditis remains a challenge for clinicians. Characterization of this disease has been hampered by its diverse etiologies and heterogeneous clinical presentations. Most cases of myocarditis are caused …

Cardiac SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with pro-inflammatory transcriptomic alterations within the heart Open

Hanna Bräuninger, Bastian Stoffers, Antonia Fitzek, K. Meißner, Ganna Aleshcheva , et al. · 2021

Aims Cardiac involvement in COVID-19 is associated with adverse outcome. However, it is unclear whether cell-specific consequences are associated with cardiac SARS-CoV-2 infection. Therefore, we investigated heart tissue utilizing in situ …

Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) is anti-fibrogenic in human inflammatory cardiomyopathy Open

Christian Baumeier, Felicitas Escher, Heiko Pietsch, Ganna Aleshcheva, Heinz‐Peter Schultheiß · 2021

Background/Introduction Preclinical data indicate that plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) is cardioprotective by repressing cardiac fibrosis through TGF-β and plasminogen mediated pathways. In addition it is linked to the recruitmen…

Prevalence and outcome of cardiac amyloidosis in an all-comer population of patients with non-ischaemic heart failure Open

Swantje Goebel, Sören Schwuchow‐Thonke, Omar Hahad, Moritz Brandt, Ursula Henning , et al. · 2021

Background Cardiac amyloidosis (CA) is increasingly recognized as an underlying cause of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), associated with high morbidity and mortality. However, most studies, solely investigated the p…

Cardiovascular consequences of viral infections: from COVID to other viral diseases Open

Heinz‐Peter Schultheiß, Christian Baumeier, Heiko Pietsch, C.–Thomas Bock, Wolfgang Poller , et al. · 2021

Infection of the heart muscle with cardiotropic viruses is one of the major aetiologies of myocarditis and acute and chronic inflammatory cardiomyopathy (DCMi). However, viral myocarditis and subsequent dilated cardiomyopathy is still a ch…

Human myocardial mitochondrial oxidative capacity is impaired in mild acute heart transplant rejection Open

Daniel Scheiber, Elric Zweck, S Albermann, Tomáš Jeleník, Maximilian Spieker , et al. · 2021

Aims Acute cellular rejection (ACR) following heart transplantation (HTX) is associated with long‐term graft loss and increased mortality. Disturbed mitochondrial bioenergetics have been identified as pathophysiological drivers in heart fa…

Outcomes of cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in people living with HIV Open

Christophe Arendt, Philipp de Leuw, A Haberl, Gerrit Kann, Timo Wolf , et al. · 2021

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background/Introduction People living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, PLWH) are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). HIV infection and accelerated traditional ri…

Nucleoside Analogue Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors Improve Clinical Outcome in Transcriptional Active Human Parvovirus B19-Positive Patients Open

Heinz‐Peter Schultheiß, C.–Thomas Bock, Heiko Pietsch, Ganna Aleshcheva, Christian Baumeier , et al. · 2021

Human parvovirus B19 (B19V) is the predominant cardiotropic virus associated with dilated inflammatory cardiomyopathy (DCMi). Transcriptionally active cardiotropic B19V infection is clinically relevant and triggers adverse long-term mortal…

Myocardial Fibrosis and Inflammation by CMR Predict Cardiovascular Outcome in People Living With HIV Open

Philipp de Leuw, Christophe Arendt, Annette E. Haberl, Daniel Froadinadl, Gerrit Kann , et al. · 2021

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