{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]],"date-time":"2026-04-30T06:51:29Z","timestamp":1777531889395,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,14]],"date-time":"2021-01-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1610582400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001691","name":"Japan Society for the Promotion of Science","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["25860581 and 20K08396"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["25860581 and 20K08396"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001691","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a potentially lethal disorder characterized by progressive impairment of cardiac function. Chronic myocarditis has long been hypothesized to be one of the causes of DCM. However, owing to the lack of suitable animal models of chronic myocarditis, its pathophysiology remains unclear. Here, we report a novel mouse model of chronic myocarditis induced by recombinant bacille Calmette-Gu\u00e9rin (rBCG) expressing a CD4+ T-cell epitope of cardiac myosin heavy chain-\u03b1 (rBCG-MyHC\u03b1). Mice immunized with rBCG-MyHC\u03b1 developed chronic myocarditis, and echocardiography revealed dilation and impaired contraction of ventricles, similar to those observed in human DCM. In the heart, CD62L\u2212CD4+ T cells were increased and produced significant amounts of IFN-\u03b3 and IL-17 in response to cardiac myosin. Adoptive transfer of CD62L\u2212CD4+ T cells induced myocarditis in the recipient mice, which indicated that CD62L\u2212CD4+ T cells were the effector cells in this model. rBCG-MyHC\u03b1-infected dendritic cells produced proinflammatory cytokines and induced MyHC\u03b1-specific T-cell proliferation and Th1 and Th17 polarization. This novel chronic myocarditis mouse model may allow the identification of the central pathophysiological and immunological processes involved in the progression to DCM.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms22020794","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,14]],"date-time":"2021-01-14T11:39:14Z","timestamp":1610624354000},"page":"794","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["A New Mouse Model of Chronic Myocarditis Induced by Recombinant Bacille Calmette\u2013Gu\u00e8rin Expressing a T-Cell Epitope of Cardiac Myosin Heavy Chain-\u03b1"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9759-1008","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kazuko","family":"Tajiri","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Tsukuba Primate Research Center, National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Tsukuba 305-0843, Japan"},{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8575, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kyoko","family":"Imanaka-Yoshida","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology and Matrix Biology, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsu 514-8507, Japan"},{"name":"Mie University Matrix Biology Research Center, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsu 514-8507, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yusuke","family":"Tsujimura","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Tsukuba Primate Research Center, National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Tsukuba 305-0843, Japan"},{"name":"Leprosy Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Higashimurayama 189-0002, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kazuhiro","family":"Matsuo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Research and Development, Japan BCG Laboratory, Kiyose 204-0022, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Michiaki","family":"Hiroe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo 162-8655, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kazutaka","family":"Aonuma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8575, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4724-3299","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Masaki","family":"Ieda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8575, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yasuhiro","family":"Yasutomi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Tsukuba Primate Research Center, National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Tsukuba 305-0843, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1091","DOI":"10.1161\/01.CIR.99.8.1091","article-title":"From myocarditis to cardiomyopathy: Mechanisms of inflammation and cell death: Learning from the past for the future","volume":"99","author":"Kawai","year":"1999","journal-title":"Circulation"},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"w13841","article-title":"Novel therapeutic options in inflammatory cardiomyopathy","volume":"143","author":"Kania","year":"2013","journal-title":"Swiss Med. 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