| Protein Description: | BMP-10 is critical for the proper development of the heart but is not expressed until after cardiac patterning or looping are completed. BMP-10 production appears at the onset of trabeculation and chamber formation and is restricted to the right atrium in the adult heart . Homozygous BMP-10 knockout mice die in utero due to arrested cardiac development. BMP-10 is required for the expression of the cardiogenic transcription factors NKX2.5 and MEF2C in developing myocardium and the growth of embryonic cardiomyocytes. NKX2.5 itself negatively regulates BMP-10 expression in cardiac myocytes. Multiple human congenital heart defects result from mutations in NKX2.5 and require BMP-10 expression . In mice, genetic knockout of ErbB leads to a similar phenotype but appears not to involve BMP-10, and knockout of the calcium channel subunit FKBP12 induces BMP-10 over-expression. BMP-10 in the postnatal heart promotes increased cardiomyocyte and heart size. BMP-10 has been shown to signal through ALK-1, BMPR-IA, BMPR-IB, and BMPR-II in transfectants and non-cardiac cell lines . A functional BMP-10 receptor in the heart has not yet been identified, although deletion of BMPR-IA causes similar cardiac morphogenetic abnormalities. In dermal endothelial cells, BMP-10 induces migration, proliferation, and gene expression typically associated with ALK-1. |
