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Macrophage polarization plays a crucial role in regulating myocardial inflammation and injuries of coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3)-induced viral myocarditis (VM). It has been reported that miR-223 is a potent regulator of inflammatory responses that involved in macrophage polarization. However, the functional roles of miR-223 in CVB3-induced VM still remain unknown. Here, we found that miR-223 expression was significantly down-regulated in heart tissues and heart-infiltrating macrophages of CVB3-infected mice. Up-regulation of miR-223 in vivo protected the mice against CVB3-induced myocardial injuries characterized by the increased body weight and survival, enhanced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and left ventricular fractional shortening (LVFS), relieved inflammation, depressed creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and aspartate transaminase (AST) levels, reduced production of interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)− 6 as well as increased IL-10. We subsequently found that miR-233 up-regulation significantly suppressed the expression of M1 markers (iNOS, TNF-α and CD 86), and promoted the expression of M2 markers (Arginase-1, Fizz-1 and CD 206) in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, we confirmed that miR-223 directly targeted Pknox1 to inhibit its expression, and the expression of Pknox1 was inversely correlated with miR-223 expression in heart tissues and heart-infiltrating macrophages of CVB3-infected mice. Gain-of-function analyses indicated that Pknox1 overexpression partially reversed the polarization phenotypes regulated by miR-223 overexpression. Taken together, the data suggest that miR-223 protects against CVB3-induced inflammation and myocardial damage, which may partly attribute to the regulation of macrophage polarization via targeting Pknox1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viral myocarditis is the inflammation caused by myocardial virus infection, and the coxsackievirus group B3 virus (CVB3) is the most common pathogen. An efficient therapeutic agent against viral myocarditis is currently unavailable. IL-33, a new member of the IL-1 cytokine superfamily, exhibits potential immunotherapeutic effect against inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. However, the functional role of IL-33 in viral myocarditis has not been investigated. To examine the therapeutic role of IL-33 in viral myocarditis, an IL-33 overexpression plasmid (pDisplay-IL-33) and IL-33 knockdown plasmid (pLL3.7-IL-33) were packaged with polyethylenimine and delivered intravenously at the orbital area of BALB/c male mice after CVB3 infection. Then, myocarditis severity was assessed 7 days after infection. Results showed that IL-33 up-regulation significantly alleviated the severity of viral myocarditis with an increased cardiac contractive function and survival rate. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that IL-33 can stimulate ST2L + F4/80 + macrophages and ST2L + CD4 + T cells in cardiac tissue to express IL-4, which is a potent inducer for macrophage M2 polarization. Mice with adoptive transfer of M2 macrophages exhibited less cardiac inflammation and attenuated myocarditis, suggesting the protective role of M2 macrophage in viral myocarditis. Additionally, IL-4 neutralization abolished the IL-33-mediated cardiac functional improvement in myocarditis mice. Collectively, our findings provide a novel therapeutic role for IL-33 in CVB3-induced myocarditis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wnt signaling pathway plays important roles in development and in many diseases. Recently several reports suggest that non-canonical Wnt proteins contribute to the inflammatory response in adult animals. However, the effects of Wnt proteins on virus-induced myocarditis have not been explored. Here, we investigated the effect of Wnt11 protein in a model of myocarditis induced by coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) using recombinant adeno-associated virus 9 (rAAV9). The effect of Wnt11 gene therapy on a CVB3-induced myocarditis model was examined using male BALB/c mice. Mice received a single intravenous injection of either rAAV9-Wnt11 or rAAV9-LacZ 2 weeks before intraperitoneal administration of CVB3. Intravenous injection of the rAAV9 vector resulted in efficient, durable, and relatively cardiac-specific transgene expression. Survival was significantly greater among rAAV9-Wnt11 treated mice than among mice treated with rAAV9-LacZ (87.5% vs. 54.1%, P < 0.05). Wnt11 expression also reduced the infiltration of inflammatory cells, necrosis of the myocardium, and suppressed the mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokines. This is the first report to show that Wnt11 expression improves the survival of mice with CVB3-induced myocarditis. AAV9-mediated Wnt11 gene therapy produces beneficial effects on cardiac function and increases the survival of mice with CVB3-induced myocarditis through the suppression of both infiltration of inflammatory cells and gene expression of inflammatory cytokines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: IL-17-producing (Th17) and regulatory T (Treg) cells have been well established in the pathogenesis of many inflammatory diseases. To assess whether Th17 and Treg were altered in acute virus-induced myocarditis (AVMC) mice, we assessed Th17/Treg functions on different levels in AVMC. It was shown that the expression of splenic Th17 cells and Th17-related cytokines (IL-17A, IL-21) markedly increased. Interestingly, the expression of splenic Treg cells and Treg-related cytokines (TGF-β, IL-10) also significantly increased. Using neutralization of IL-17 in the AVMC, we found that Treg cells roughly decreased compared with isotype control mice. However, T cells and perforin dramatically increased, followed by a marked reduction in CVB3 replication. The results suggested that Th17 cells possibly contributed to viral replication through the action of Treg cells in mediating T cells and perforin response in AVMC. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]