Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Ulm University, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, D-89081 Ulm, Germany.
Circ Res. 2010 Jul 23;107(2):186-99. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.110.221531.
Understanding heart development on a molecular level is a prerequisite for uncovering the causes of congenital heart diseases. Therapeutic approaches that try to enhance cardiac regeneration or that involve the differentiation of resident cardiac progenitor cells or patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells will also benefit tremendously from this knowledge. Wnt proteins have been shown to play multiple roles during cardiac differentiation and development. They are extracellular growth factors that activate different intracellular signaling branches. Here, we summarize our current understanding of how these factors affect different aspects of cardiogenesis, starting from early specification of cardiac progenitors and continuing on to later developmental steps, such as morphogenetic processes, valve formation, and establishment of the conduction system.
在分子水平上理解心脏发育是揭示先天性心脏病病因的前提。试图增强心脏再生或涉及驻留心脏祖细胞或患者特异性诱导多能干细胞分化的治疗方法也将极大地受益于这方面的知识。Wnt 蛋白在心脏分化和发育过程中发挥多种作用。它们是激活不同细胞内信号分支的细胞外生长因子。在这里，我们总结了我们目前对这些因子如何影响心脏发生的不同方面的理解，从心脏祖细胞的早期特化开始，一直到后来的发育步骤，如形态发生过程、瓣膜形成和传导系统的建立。
