IMR Press / FBL / Volume 24 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.2741/4709

Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Review

Functional autoantibody diseases: Basics and treatment related to cardiomyopathies

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1 Berlin Cures GmbH Berlin, Knesebeckstrasse 59-61, 10719 Berlin, Germany

Send correspondence to: Ingolf Schimke, Berlin Cures GmbH Berlin, Knesebeckstrasse 59-61, 10719 Berlin, Germany, E-mail: schimke@berlincures.de

Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2019, 24(1), 48–95; https://doi.org/10.2741/4709
Published: 1 January 2019
Abstract

In the 1970s, autoantibodies directed against G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR, GPCR-AAB) were discovered. After receptor binding, GPCR-AAB trigger uncontrolled receptor mediated signal cascades, thus producing pathologies. Diseases associated with such functionally active autoantibody type (functional autoantibodies) can be called “functional autoantibody diseases”. Here we focus exclusively on GPCR-AAB directed against the GPCR’s extracellular loops. The GPCR’s role in the pathogenesis and progression is accepted in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy and is increasingly considered in diseases such as Chagas’ cardiomyopathy, peripartum cardiomyopathy, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and scleroderma and even dementia, complex regional pain syndrome and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. We briefly summarize the mechanistic background of GPCR-AAB induced pathologies, mainly focused on autoantibodies targeting the β1-adrenergic and muscarinic 2 receptors, due to their importance for cardiomyopathies. Furthermore, treatment strategies for “functional autoantibody diseases”, such as for GPCR-AAB removal (therapeutic plasma exchange, immunoadsorption) and in vivo GPCR-AAB attack (intravenous IgG treatment, B-cell depletion, GPCR-AAB in vivo binding and neutralization) are critically reflected with respect to their patient benefits focused on but not exclusive to patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Keywords
Autoimmunity
Cardiomyopathy
Functional autoantibodies
Functional autoantibody diseases
G-protein coupled receptors
Treatment strategies
Review
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