CONSTANTINOS J LIMAS

Publications (2)3.37 Total impact

• Article: Familial clustering of autoimmune diseases in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.

  Constantinos J Limas, Panayotis Iakovis, Alexandros Anyfantakis, Christos Kroupis, Dennis V Cokkinos
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  ABSTRACT: In this study, we examined the hypothesis that dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) shares genetic risk factors with other diseases of presumed autoimmune etiology, and, therefore, the same multiple genes in combination with environmental factors lead to numerous different autoimmune diseases. In accordance with this hypothesis, we showed an increased prevalence of autoimmune diseases in first-degree relatives of patients with DCM. Also, T-cell activation, as reflected in high levels of the soluble interleukin-2 receptor, appears to identify patients with DCM with a clustering of autoimmune diseases.
  The American Journal of Cardiology 06/2004; 93(9):1189-91. · 3.37 Impact Factor
• Article: Calcium uptake by cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum in human dilated cardiomyopathy

  CONSTANTINOS J LIMAS, MARIA-TERESA OLIVARI, IRVIN F GOLDENBERG, T BARRY LEVINE, DAVID G BENDITT, ADA SIMON
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  ABSTRACT: To determine the biochemical basis of abnormal diastolic properties in human dilated cardiomyopathy calcium uptake by the sarcoplasmic reticulum in ventricular homogenates of biopsy specimens from 21 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy was compared with that in nine normal controls. As a group, patients with cardiomyopathy had considerably lower calcium uptake rates (3.3(0.6) nmol·mg–1·min–1 vs 6.5(0.5) nmol·mg–1·min–1, p<0.01). Calcium uptake rates correlated modestly with resting haemodynamic values and significantly with plasma noradrenaline concentrations but not with plasma renin activity. These results show that sarcoplasmic reticulum function is impaired in human dilated cardiomyopathy and that this impairment is related both to the severity of haemodynamic dysfunction and to the extent of sympathetic nervous system activation.