Autoimmunity in Chagas' disease. Identification of cardiac myosin-B13 Trypanosoma cruzi protein crossreactive T cell clones in heart lesions of a chronic Chagas' cardiomyopathy patient.

Heart tissue destruction in chronic Chagas' disease cardiomyopathy (CCC) may be caused by autoimmune recognition of heart tissue by a mononuclear cell infiltrate decades after Trypanosoma cruzi infection. Indirect evidence suggests there is molecular mimicry between T. cruzi and heart tissue. In murine models of CCC, antibodies and CD4+ T cells recognize myosin, the major heart protein. We recently identified a heart-specific epitope of cardiac...