Patients with genetic cardiomyopathies (gCMP) showed higher anti-TPI3 and lower anti-TPM1 antibody levels than matched healthy controls, and anti-MYH6 and anti-TPM1 antibody levels were negatively associated with left ventricular ejection fraction, which the authors say points to the diagnostic potential of heart-reactive antibody profiling and possible therapeutic targeting.
Patients with genetic cardiomyopathies had higher anti-TPI3 antibody levels than age- and sex-matched healthy controls.
Patients with genetic cardiomyopathies had lower anti-TPM1 antibody levels than healthy controls.
Age and sex influenced heart-reactive antibody (HRA) patterns in both patients and controls.
Anti-MYH6 and anti-TPM1 antibody levels were negatively associated with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).
Anti-MYH6 antibody levels were negatively associated with right ventricular function, measured by TAPSE.
The study measured antibodies against several cardiac antigens, including the β1-adrenergic receptor second extracellular loop, in gCMP patients, whose relevance had been unclear compared with idiopathic DCM.
The authors conclude that HRA profiling has diagnostic potential and that gCMP patients might benefit from therapeutic targeting of HRA.
This study looked at whether people with inherited heart muscle diseases (genetic cardiomyopathies) carry antibodies that react against their own heart proteins. The researchers compared 100 patients with confirmed disease-causing gene variants to 100 healthy people of similar age and sex. They measured antibody levels against several heart proteins, including a receptor involved in heart rate and contraction and several muscle proteins. Patients had higher levels of antibodies against troponin I3 and lower levels of antibodies against tropomyosin 1 than healthy people. Age and sex also influenced antibody patterns in both groups. Within patients, higher levels of antibodies against myosin heavy chain 6 and tropomyosin 1 went along with a lower left ventricular ejection fraction, a measure of how well the heart's main pumping chamber works. This was seen overall and in subtypes such as hypertrophic and arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. Higher anti-myosin heavy chain 6 levels were also linked to weaker right-sided heart function. This research suggests that the immune system's reactions to heart proteins may be related to how well the heart functions in inherited cardiomyopathies. The findings are associations, so they do not show that the antibodies cause the weaker heart function. The authors propose that measuring these antibodies could help in diagnosis and that treatments targeting them might eventually help some patients, but this would need further study.
Schiffer D, Afshar B, Grosser D, Pet J, Schmidbauer L, Bauser M, et al.. (2026). Heart-reactive antibody levels differentially associate with ventricular function in hereditary cardiomyopathies.. BMC cardiovascular disorders. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12872-026-06808-3