The role of blood podoplanin in patients with viral myocarditis.

Podoplanin (PDPN), a small mucin-like glycoprotein, was recently found to promote the generation of cardiac ectopic lymphoid follicles and anti-heart autoantibodies (AHA) in viral myocarditis (VMC) mice. Herein, we investigated the blood PDPN expression and its potential clinical value in VMC patients. Overall, 40 VMC patients were enrolled among 112 hospitalized patients with suspected myocarditis.