title: Mechanisms of Cardiomyocyte Proliferation and Differentiation in Development and Regeneration.
abstract: Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect and acquired heart disease is the leading cause of death in adults. Understanding the mechanisms that drive cardiomyocyte proliferation and differentiation has the potential to advance the understanding and potentially the treatment of different cardiac pathologies, ranging from myopathies and heart failure to myocardial infarction. This review focuses on studies aimed at elucidating signal transduction pathways and molecular mechanisms that promote proliferation, differentiation, and regeneration of differentiated heart muscle cells, cardiomyocytes.
  
  
  
  There is now significant evidence that demonstrates cardiomyocytes continue to proliferate into adulthood. Potential regulators have been identified, including cell cycle regulators, extracellular ligands such as neuregulin, epigenetic targets, reactive oxygen species, and microRNA. The necessary steps should involve validating and applying the new knowledge about cardiomyocyte regeneration towards the development of therapeutic targets for patients. This will be facilitated by the application of standardized pre-clinical models to study cardiomyocyte regeneration.
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 4401 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15224-1334, USA.
authors.forename: Jessie Wettig
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Yester
authors.affiliation: Richard King Mellon Foundation Institute for Pediatric Research and Division of Cardiology, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, and Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 4401 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15224-1334, USA. Bernhard.kuhn2@CHP.edu.
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kühn
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology; D002453:Cell Cycle; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D006801:Humans; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000166:cytology*; D012038:Regeneration; D015398:Signal Transduction
keywords: Cardiomyocyte; Cell cycle; Differentiation; Proliferation; Regeneration