title: The roadmap of WT1 protein expression in the human fetal heart.
abstract: The transcription factor Wilms' Tumor-1 (WT1) is essential for cardiac development. Deletion of Wt1 in mice results in disturbed epicardial and myocardial formation and lack of cardiac vasculature, causing embryonic lethality. Little is known about the role of WT1 in the human fetal heart. Therefore, as a first step, we analyzed the expression pattern of WT1 protein during human cardiac development from week 4 till week 20. WT1 expression was apparent in epicardial, endothelial and endocardial cells in a spatiotemporal manner. The expression of WT1 follows a pattern starting at the epicardium and extending towards the lumen of the heart, with differences in timing and expression levels between the atria and ventricles. The expression of WT1 in cardiac arterial endothelial cells reduces in time, whereas WT1 expression in the endothelial cells of cardiac veins and capillaries remains present at all stages studied. This study provides for the first time a detailed description of the expression of WT1 protein during human cardiac development, which indicates an important role for WT1 also in human cardiogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Sjoerd N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Duim
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Anke M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Smits
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: B.P.T.Kruithof@lumc.nl.
authors.forename: Boudewijn P T
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Kruithof
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: M.J.T.H.Goumans@lumc.nl.
authors.forename: Marie-José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Goumans
mesh_terms: D004699:Endocardium / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005333:Fetus; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006801:Humans; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010496:Pericardium / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D025721:WT1 Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D025721:WT1 Proteins; C583751:WT1 protein, human
keywords: Endocardial cell; Endothelial cell; Epicardium; Human cardiac development; Wilms' Tumor-1