Detection of enteroviral RNA in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy and other human cardiac tissues.

Enteroviruses have been considered to be a possible cause of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. We used a polymerase chain reaction methodology for the identification of enteroviral RNA in an attempt to provide evidence of a role for enteroviruses in the pathogenesis of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. The methodology was shown to identify a wide variety of enteroviruses with a sensitivity up to 0.1-1 plaque-forming units/gram of tissue. 5 of 11 cases (45%) of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, as well as 9 of 24 cases (38%) of a wide variety of other cardiac conditions (including normal heart), were positive for enteroviral nucleic acid sequences; all eight control cases of breast carcinoma tested were negative. These results suggest that both the normal and abnormal heart may represent a site of latent or low-grade persistent enteroviral infection, and that the mere presence of enteroviral nucleic acid sequences is not specifically associated with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.