Linkage between elevated PDGF-C expression and myocardial fibrogenesis in coxsackievirus B3-induced chronic myocarditis.

Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) is the most common causative agentof myocarditis.¹ Acute myocarditis caused by CVB3 infectioneither recovers completely without any functional and morphologicaldefects or progresses to chronic myocarditis, which is characterizedby chronic inflammation and interstitial hyperplasia that maybe related to progressive intrinsic dysfunction, degeneration,and loss of cardiomyocyte viability.² In later stages of thisdisease, CVB3 persists in the myocardium and results in chronicactivation of fibroblasts and progressive fibrosis of the myocardium,reflected by the accumulation of connective tissue and extracellularmatrix, which is characteristic of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).^3,4However, the molecular mechanisms by which acute myocarditisprogresses to chronic myocarditis and DCM still