Department of Genetics Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx NY.
Children's Mercy Research Institute, Children's Mercy Kansas City and Department of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine Kansas City MO.
J Am Heart Assoc. 2023 Sep 19;12(18):e029683. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.123.029683. Epub 2023 Sep 13.
Background Endocardial cells are a major progenitor population that gives rise to heart valves through endocardial cushion formation by endocardial to mesenchymal transformation and the subsequent endocardial cushion remodeling. Genetic variants that affect these developmental processes can lead to congenital heart valve defects. and are ubiquitously expressed genes encoding cytoplasmic adaptors essential for cell signaling. This study aims to explore the specific role of and in the endocardial lineage during heart valve development. Methods and Results We deleted and specifically in the endocardial lineage. The resultant heart valve morphology was evaluated by histological analysis, and the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms were investigated by immunostaining and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. We found that the targeted deletion of and impeded the remodeling of endocardial cushions at the atrioventricular canal into the atrioventricular valves. We showed that apoptosis was temporally increased in the remodeling atrioventricular endocardial cushions, and this developmentally upregulated apoptosis was repressed by deletion of and . Loss of and also resulted in altered extracellular matrix production and organization in the remodeling atrioventricular endocardial cushions. These morphogenic defects were associated with altered expression of genes in BMP (bone morphogenetic protein), connective tissue growth factor, and WNT signaling pathways, and reduced extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling activities. Conclusions Our findings support that and have shared functions in the endocardial lineage that critically regulate atrioventricular valve development; together, they likely coordinate the morphogenic signals involved in the remodeling of the atrioventricular endocardial cushions.
心内膜细胞是一种主要的祖细胞群体,通过心内膜向间质转化和随后的心内膜垫重塑,在心内膜垫形成过程中产生心脏瓣膜。影响这些发育过程的遗传变异可导致先天性心脏瓣膜缺陷。 和 是广泛表达的基因,编码细胞质衔接子,对于细胞信号转导至关重要。本研究旨在探讨 和 在心脏瓣膜发育中心内膜谱系中的特定作用。
我们特异性地在心内膜谱系中删除了 和 。通过组织学分析评估心脏瓣膜形态,通过免疫染色和定量逆转录聚合酶链反应研究潜在的细胞和分子机制。我们发现, 和 的靶向缺失阻碍了房室管中心内膜垫向房室瓣的重塑。我们表明,重塑的房室心内膜垫中的细胞凋亡在时间上增加,而 和 的缺失抑制了这种发育上调的凋亡。 和 的缺失还导致重塑的房室心内膜垫中细胞外基质的产生和组织发生改变。这些形态发生缺陷与 BMP(骨形态发生蛋白)、结缔组织生长因子和 WNT 信号通路中基因的表达改变以及细胞外信号调节激酶信号活性降低有关。
我们的研究结果表明, 和 在心脏瓣膜发育中具有共同的心内膜谱系功能;它们共同协调参与重塑房室心内膜垫的形态发生信号。