Pathophysiology of Autoimmunity and Immune-Mediated Mechanisms in Cardiovascular Diseases

Autoimmune diseases are known to have a number of effector mechanisms including environmental, genetic, hormonal, infectious, and psychological effectors. Studies have reported that various triggers and insults promote autoimmune responses or modulate the clinical course of autoimmune illnesses. A variety of cellular and molecular responses mediates organ-specific cardiac autoimmunity or participates in the pathogenesis of cardiac-related damage due to systemic conditions, which includes abnormal function of the complement system and its regulatory proteins, pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine imbalance, and a shift toward T helper 1 and T helper 17 immune responses. Furthermore, systemic inflammation and endothelial dysfunction appear to play a critical role in atherosclerosis. Thus it seems that the immune system plays a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases. In this introductory chapter we discuss the etiology and pathophysiology of autoimmune diseases and elaborate on immune-mediated mechanisms of known cardiovascular diseases.