The application teaches a therapeutic agent for use in the treatment of cardiac warm ischemia reperfusion injury, wherein said therapeutic agent is capable of interacting with at least one of the CD80 or CD86 polypeptides, and wherein said interaction interferes with the binding of the at least one of the CD80 or CD86 polypeptides to the CD28 polypeptide. The application also teaches a therapeutic agent for use in the treatment of cardiac warm ischemia reperfusion injury, wherein said therapeutic agent is capable of preventing or inhibiting the expression of at least one of the CD80 or CD86 polypeptides by a cell or on the surface of a cell.
