Faulty cellular antennae may cause a heart valve disorder
The discovery could help researchers understand how mitral valve prolapse develops
Cells with faulty antennae that can’t get their signals straight may be behind a common heart valve disorder.
Newborn mice engineered to develop a flawed heart valve had stunted primary cilia in cells that help to form the valve during development, researchers report online May 22 in Science Translational Medicine.
The heart valve disorder, called mitral valve prolapse, “is characterized by significant abnormalities in the composition and organization” of valve tissue, says Joy Lincoln, a heart valve researcher at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Those abnormalities compromise the valve’s structure and function. The new work hints that primary cilia play a role in this improper development, she says.