Liraglutide attenuates autoimmune myocarditis by inhibiting NLRP3 and NF-κb pathways.

Myocarditis, an inflammatory heart disease, often leads to severe cardiac dysfunction, including dilated cardiomyopathy and sudden death. Current treatments for myocarditis remain limited, necessitating the exploration of new therapeutic approaches. Liraglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist widely used for type 2 diabetes and obesity, has shown anti-inflammatory effects in other cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we investigated liraglutide's effects on autoimmune myocarditis. Our findings demonstrated that liraglutide significantly reduced myocarditis severity by lowering heart weight/body weight ratio, serum cardiac troponin T levels, cardiac fibrosis, and inflammatory infiltration. Echocardiography showed improved left ventricular function, while immunofluorescence and RT-qPCR analyses revealed decreased T-cell and macrophage infiltration and reduced expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. RNA sequencing indicated that liraglutide modulates the NLRP3 inflammasome and NF-κB pathways. These results suggest that liraglutide has the potential to be a therapeutic agent for myocarditis.