Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0018799 (heart disease)
 34,133 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Stem cell therapy has emerged as a promising tool for the treatment of a variety of diseases. Previously, we have shown that Akt-modified mesenchymal stem cells mediate tissue repair through paracrine mechanisms. Using a comprehensive functional genomic strategy, we show that secreted frizzled related protein 2 (Sfrp2) is the key stem cell paracrine factor that mediates myocardial survival and repair after ischemic injury. Sfrp2 is known to modulate Wnt signaling, and we demonstrate that cardiomyocytes treated with secreted frizzled related protein increase cellular beta-catenin and up-regulate expression of antiapoptotic genes. These findings reveal the key role played by Sfrp2 in mediating the paracrine effects of Akt-mesenchymal stem cells on tissue repair and identify modulation of Wnt signaling as a therapeutic target for heart disease.
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PMID:Secreted frizzled related protein 2 (Sfrp2) is the key Akt-mesenchymal stem cell-released paracrine factor mediating myocardial survival and repair. 1725 50

Despite decades of progress in cardiovascular biology, heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the developed world. Recently, cell-based therapy has emerged as a promising avenue for future therapeutics. However, the molecular signals that regulate cardiac progenitor cells are not well-understood. Wnt/beta-catenin signaling is essential for expansion and differentiation of cardiac progenitors in mouse embryos and in the embryonic stem cell system. Studies from our laboratory and others highlight the pivotal roles of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in the multiple steps of cardiogenesis and provide insights into understanding the complex regulation of cardiac progenitors. Here we discuss the required roles of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling at the different stages of heart development.
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PMID:Wnt/beta-catenin signaling acts at multiple developmental stages to promote mammalian cardiogenesis. 1906 59

The tight regulation of different signaling systems and the transcriptional and translational networks during embryonic development have been the focus of embryologists in recent decades. Defective developmental signaling due to genetic mutation or temporal and region-specific alteration of gene expression causes embryonic lethality or accounts for birth defects (e.g., congenital heart disease). The formation of the heart requires the coordinated integration of multiple cardiac progenitor cell populations derived from the first and second heart fields and from cardiac neural crest cells. This article summarizes what has been learned from conditional mutagenesis of Bmp pathway components and the Wnt effector, beta-catenin, in the developing heart of mice. Although Bmp signaling is required for cardiac progenitor cell specification, proliferation, and differentiation, recent studies have demonstrated distinct functions of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling at various stages of heart development.
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PMID:Developmental signaling in myocardial progenitor cells: a comprehensive view of Bmp- and Wnt/beta-catenin signaling. 1909 73