Aims: Inflammation is a complex biological and pathophysiological response of the immune system to a variety of infections or injuries leading to damage or disease. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a critical role in the pathogenesis of a variety of diseases, as they could serve as biomarkers for inflammation and therapeutic candidates for disease treatment. The aim of this study was to identify and to evaluate prognostic miRNAs in endomyocardial biopsies of patients with inflammatory cardiomyopathy (DCMi).

Methods: By screening of 754 unique circulating miRNAs (TaqMan^® OpenArray^®) in biopsies of 152 patients and blood of 10 healthy donors, we identified six miRNAs downregulated only in endomyocardial biopsies of DCMi patients (P < 0.005).

Results: The expression of the identified downregulated miRNAs (miR-1, miR-23, miR-142-5p, miR-155, miR-193 and miR-195) allowed us to differentiate between patients with inflammation (and without virus) from all other study groups (P < 0.005) with the specificity over 95 %.

Conclusions: MiRNAs provide a new diagnostic perspective to identify intramyocardial inflammation, independently of histological findings, blood tests and ECG. Thus, they allow the early anti-inflammatory treatment and could serve as innovative therapeutic approach to treat inflammatory cardiomyopathy.