Wt1在心脏发育中的作用

Wt1最初被认为是一种抑癌基因,现在发现其在器官形成和病理生理过程中发挥作用,它不仅影响肾脏而且影响心脏的发育。心外膜细胞在经历了上皮-间充质细胞转化后成为心血管前体细胞,之后继续分化为心肌细胞、冠状动脉血管细胞等,该过程在心脏发育中起到重要作用,而Wt1调控了这一重要的转化过程。本综述主要阐述Wt1通过Wnt/β-catenin信号通路和维甲酸信号通路调控EMT,影响心脏发育的机制。充分理解Wt1调控EMT产生心血管前体细胞的过程与分子机制,对于研究正常心脏发育及心脏再生有很大帮助。

The Role of Wt1 during Heart Development

Originally identified as a tumour suppressor gene based on its mutational inactivation in Wilms＇ tumour or nephroblas- toma, Wtl is nowadays recognized to have much broader functions in organogenesis and pathophysiology. The multiple tasks of Wtl during development are not only limited to the kidney but involve the heart as well. Epicardium undergoes epithelial-to-mesenchymal transformation （EMT） and gives rise to the cardiogenic progenitor cells which differentiate into cardiomyocyte and coronary vascular endothelial cells, which play an essential role during heart development. Wtl controls the important transformation. In this review, we focus on recent findings about the alternative protein isoforms of Wtl and how Wtl regulates EMT via Wnt/13-catenin and Retinoic acid signal to mediate heart development. Well understand the mechanism of how Wtl regulates EMT to generate cardiovascular progenitor cells will be helpful to the study ofcardiogenesis and heart regeneration.