β ₁ -Adrenergic Receptor Autoantibodies Mediate Dilated Cardiomyopathy by Agonistically Inducing Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis

Antibodies to the beta1-adrenergic receptor (beta1AR) are detected in a substantial number of patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). The mechanism whereby these autoantibodies exert their pathogenic effect is unknown. Here, we define a causal mechanism whereby beta1AR-specific autoantibodies mediate noninflammatory cardiomyocyte cell death during murine DCM.We used the beta1AR protein as an immunogen in SWXJ mice and generated a...