Abstract 19909: Beneficial Immune Modulation Post-Cardiac Infarction in Mice

Immune cells play a significant role in cardiac repair post-ischemia. We examined the effects of the immunomodulating drug FTY720 on cardiac outcomes following myocardial infarction in a mouse model of permanent coronary artery ligation and on cardiac immune cells. FTY720 is a sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor agonist/antagonist that is FDA approved for treatment of the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis. We examined effects of 2 weeks of treatment with oral FTY720 (0.3mg/kg/d) in mice, post-permanent left anterior descending coronary artery ligation. Male C57Bl/6 mice treated with FTY720 showed a marked increase in survival at 2 weeks (80% vs 50% survival, pu003c0.01). FTY720 treatment reduced infarct size at 16 weeks post LAD ligation (decrease of 20-30%. Pu003c0.05) by histology on serial sections (Seven 10 μm serial sections 300 μm apart below the ligature). Serial echocardiography revealed almost complete recovery of LV function, particularly at end-systole, after treatment with FTY720, while untreated con...