Phenotype analysis of mononuclear cells in endomyocardial biopsy specimens from patients with viral myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathy.

This study investigated the distribution and phenotype of mononuclear cells in endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) specimens from patients with viral myocarditis (VMC, 25 cases) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM, 10 cases). T lymphocytes, including Th/i cells in VMC and Tc/s cells in DCM, predominated in the infiltrating mononuclear cells in these specimens. The morphological relationship between infiltration of T lymphocytes and pathological changes of myocardia was also observed and neither macrophages nor B lymphocytes were found.