Buffering Mechanism in Aortic Arch Artery Formation and Congenital Heart Disease

Genetic and Environmental Contributors To Congenital Heart Disease

Purpose of Review

Paradigms surrounding congenital heart disease (CHD) etiology represent an evolving area of study. Traditionally, genetic causes of CHD have been classified into chromosomal abnormalities, copy number variation, and single-gene disorders, while environmental contributors include external and intrinsic maternal factors that impair cardiac development. Here, we summarize established causes of CHD and highlight emerging insights into CHD pathogenesis that may inform future treatment options.

Recent Findings

Recent advancements in next-generation sequencing technologies have uncovered novel genetic etiologies underlying CHD including oligogenic inheritance and pathogenic noncoding variation. In addition, industrialization and transformation of society has introduced new environmental risk factors that may contribute to CHD. Further, mechanistic insight into both genetic and environmental factors underlying CHD has led to discovery of novel therapeutic strategies.

Summary

New methodologies have greatly improved our comprehension of the heterogeneous mechanisms underlying CHD, catalyzing the discovery of effective therapeutic strategies to reduce CHD incidence.

Towards advanced regenerative therapeutics to tackle cardio-cerebrovascular diseases

The development of vascularized organoids as novel modelling tools of the human cardio-cerebrovascular system for preclinical research has become an essential platform for studying human vascularized tissues/organs for development of personalized therapeutics during recent decades. Organ-on-chip technology is promising for investigating physiological in vitro responses in drug screening development and advanced disease models. Vascularized tissue/organ-on-a-chip benefits every step of drug discovery pipeline as a screening tool with close human genome relevance to investigate human systems biology. Simultaneously, cardio-cerebrovascular-on-chip-integrated microfluidic system serves as an alternative to preclinical animal research for studying (patho-)physiological processes of human blood vessels during embryonic development and cardio-cerebrovascular disease. Integrated with next-generation techniques, such as three-dimensional bioprinting of both cells and matrix, may enable vascularized organoid-on-chip-based novel drug development as personalized therapeutics.