FOXK1 regulates Wnt signaling to promote cardiogenesis.

Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect. Deciphering the networks that govern cardiomyocyte specification, proliferation and differentiation will provide insights regarding therapeutic interventions for cardiovascular disease. The winged helix/forkhead family of transcription factors have been shown to have critical roles in epigenetics, organogenesis, cellular proliferation and differentiation. FOXK1 is an important transcription factor that regulates cardiovascular development through the Wnt signaling pathway. This FOXK1-Wnt pathway defines a network that may be therapeutically targeted to promote cardiogenesis.