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Previous Volume 347:1806 November 28, 2002 Number 22 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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To the Editor: The pathophysiologic relevance of autoantibodies against cardiac proteins in the induction or maintenance of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy is still unclear. It has been shown that induction of antibodies against cardiac ₁-adrenergic–receptor structures in rabbits leads to significant cardiac dilatation.^1,2 Examinations of cardiac myocytes from neonatal rats have shown that this antibody type isolated from patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy acts like a -adrenergic agonist.³ Removal of class G immunoglobulins from plasma has been shown to improve cardiac performance within one year after immunoadsorption in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.⁴ Since immunoadsorption removes a whole class of immunoglobulins, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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