Fig. 2. Myocardial infarction and autoimmunity. Myocardial infarction triggers CD4+ T-cell activation in the mediastinal (heart-draining) lymph nodes (Med LN), seemingly against
cardiac antigens and damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPS), and that those T cells modulate the healing outcome. Previous studies have reported that T-cells activated in the
MI context can favor a salutary healing process [33–37], but evidences for a T-cell mediated myocardial damage has also been observed [39].