Cardiovascular Immunology Research in Wuhan Union Hospital: Over the Past 25 years

• Main Authors: Yuhua Liao, Yiyi Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Compuscript 2017-02-01
• Series: Cardiovascular Innovations and Applications
• Subjects: autoantibody; T cells; hypertension; dilated cardiomyopathy; heart failure; vaccine
• Online Access: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cscript/cvia/2017/00000002/00000002/art00003

Cardiovascular immunology research in Wuhan Union Hospital began in 1991. Anti-heart antibodies in dilated cardiomyopathy and acute viral myocarditis began to be reported from 1993. It was found that a new autoantibody against L-type calcium channel results in ventricular tachycardia and sudden death in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. Through the Intervention Study of Diltiazem in Dilated Cardiomyopathy, diltiazem was verified to reduce mortality and the chronic heart failure hospitalization rate significantly in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. The autoantibodies against angiotensin II receptor type 1 and α1-adrenoceptor were associated with the increased recurrence of and death from stroke in hypertensive patients. Through many clinical and experimental studies, the functional imbalance of T-cell subsets was suggested to mediate myocardial injury and chronic heart failure, which provided a new theoretical basis for immunoregulation therapy for heart failure. The first antihypertensive polypeptide vaccine (ATRQβ-001) was invented. In addition to these achievements, there will be more research on cardiovascular immunology in Wuhan Union Hospital in the future.