The long-term goal of our work is to reduce the enormous public health burden caused by heart diseases, both congenital and adult, through a better understanding of vertebrate cardiac progenitor cell biology. Defects in a recently-characterized population of cardiac progenitor cells, the secondary heart field (SHF), have been shown to cause conotruncal malformations in avian and mouse species suggesting that, by analogy, human congenital heart defects can arise from defects in SHF. Currently, SHF research is conducted exclusively in avian and mouse model systems. We provide preliminary evidence that the SHF is conserved in zebrafish, a model organism with unique attributes that will undoubtedly complement studies in higher vertebrates. Specifically, we have demonstrated that a protein required for transforming growth factor ? (TGF?) signaling, latent TGF? binding protein 3 (LTBP3), not only marks the zebrafish SHF, but is also required for the contributions made by SHF progenitors to the embryonic heart. As a result, embryos devoid of LTBP3 transcripts exhibit significant reductions in ventricular lineages (cardiomyocytes and endocardial cells), outflow tract smooth muscle, and aortic arch angioblasts and arteries. The proposed experiments are designed to test the hypotheses that LTBP3+ cells represent the functional equivalent of the SHF, that TGF? signaling is required for SHF development, and that LTBP3 function is genetically downstream of fgf8, an archetypal SHF gene in higher vertebrates. In the long run, these studies will potentially highlight novel genetic causes of human congenital heart disease as well as illuminate potential therapeutic targets for directed differentiation of resident or embryonic cardiac progenitor cells for use in regenerative therapies.

Public Health Relevance

Congenital cardiovascular defects are the number one cause of newborn death in the Western world. The experiments in this grant application are designed to better understand the genetic causes of these defects. In the long run, we hope to reduce the morbidity and mortality resulting from congenital cardiovascular diseases.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HL096816-05
Application #
8662297
Study Section
Cardiovascular Differentiation and Development Study Section (CDD)
Program Officer
Schramm, Charlene A
Project Start
2010-07-01
Project End
2015-04-30
Budget Start
2014-05-01
Budget End
2015-04-30
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Massachusetts General Hospital
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02199
Guner-Ataman, Burcu; González-Rosa, Juan Manuel; Shah, Harsh N et al. (2018) Failed Progenitor Specification Underlies the Cardiopharyngeal Phenotypes in a Zebrafish Model of 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome. Cell Rep 24:1342-1354.e5
Paffett-Lugassy, Noelle; Novikov, Natasha; Jeffrey, Spencer et al. (2017) Unique developmental trajectories and genetic regulation of ventricular and outflow tract progenitors in the zebrafish second heart field. Development 144:4616-4624
Abrial, Maryline; Paffett-Lugassy, Noëlle; Jeffrey, Spencer et al. (2017) TGF-? Signaling Is Necessary and Sufficient for Pharyngeal Arch Artery Angioblast Formation. Cell Rep 20:973-983
Jahangiri, Leila; Sharpe, Michka; Novikov, Natasha et al. (2016) The AP-1 transcription factor component Fosl2 potentiates the rate of myocardial differentiation from the zebrafish second heart field. Development 143:113-22
Mosimann, Christian; Panáková, Daniela; Werdich, Andreas A et al. (2015) Chamber identity programs drive early functional partitioning of the heart. Nat Commun 6:8146
Nevis, Kathleen; Obregon, Pablo; Walsh, Conor et al. (2013) Tbx1 is required for second heart field proliferation in zebrafish. Dev Dyn 242:550-9
Paffett-Lugassy, Noëlle; Singh, Reena; Nevis, Kathleen R et al. (2013) Heart field origin of great vessel precursors relies on nkx2.5-mediated vasculogenesis. Nat Cell Biol 15:1362-9
Guner-Ataman, Burcu; Paffett-Lugassy, Noelle; Adams, Meghan S et al. (2013) Zebrafish second heart field development relies on progenitor specification in anterior lateral plate mesoderm and nkx2.5 function. Development 140:1353-63
Zhou, Yong; Cashman, Timothy J; Nevis, Kathleen R et al. (2011) Latent TGF-? binding protein 3 identifies a second heart field in zebrafish. Nature 474:645-8