title: Epicardial Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in Heart Development and Disease.
abstract: The epicardium is an epithelial monolayer that plays a central role in heart development and the myocardial response to injury. Recent developments in our understanding of epicardial cell biology have revealed this layer to be a dynamic participant in fundamental processes underlying the development of the embryonic ventricles, the coronary vasculature, and the cardiac valves. Likewise, recent data have identified the epicardium as an important contributor to reparative and regenerative processes in the injured myocardium. These essential functions of the epicardium rely on both non-cell autonomous and cell-autonomous mechanisms, with the latter featuring the process of epicardial Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT). This review will focus on the induction and regulation of epicardial EMT, as it pertains to both cardiogenesis and the response of the myocardium to injury.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA. mkrainock@llu.edu.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krainock
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA. toubat@usc.edu.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Toubat
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA. sdanopoulos@chla.usc.edu.
authors.forename: Soula
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Danopoulos
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA. abeckham@chla.usc.edu.
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beckham
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA. dwarburton@chla.usc.edu.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Warburton
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA. rikim@chla.usc.edu.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: epicardium; epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition; heart development