Regulatory potential of COUP-TFs in development: Stem/progenitor cells

• COUP-TFs are highly expressed in progenitor/stem cells.
• COUP-TFs are important for the arterial/venous fate determination.
• COUP-TFs are important for the mesenchymal cell fate determination.
• COUP-TFs are important for the formation of the metanephric mesenchyme.
• COUP-TFs are important for the neuronal fate determination.

The formation of complex organisms is highly dependent on the differentiation of specialized mature cells from common stem/progenitor cells. The orphan nuclear receptors chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factors (COUP-TFs) are broadly, but not ubiquitously, expressed in multiple tissues throughout embryonic development and COUP-TFs are indispensible for proper organogenesis. Recently, growing evidence suggests a critical role of COUP-TFs in multiple aspects of stem/progenitor cell biology. In this review, we highlight the progress of COUP-TFs function and its underlying mechanism in driving stem/progenitor cell self-renewal, lineage specification, differentiation, maintenance, and cell identity in diverse tissue types. These studies provide novel insights into future clinical utilities of COUP-TFs in stem cell based therapies and in the management of diseases.