Cardiac transcription factor Csx/Nkx2-5: Its role in cardiac development and diseases

During the past decade, an emerging body of evidence has accumulated that cardiac transcription factors control a cardiac gene program and play a critical role in transcriptional regulation during cardiogenesis and during the adaptive process in adult hearts. Especially, an evolutionally conserved homeobox transcription factor Csx/Nkx2-5 has been in the forefront in the field of cardiac biology, providing molecular insights into the mechanisms of cardiac development and diseases. Csx/Nkx2-5 is indispensable for normal cardiac development, and mutations of the gene are associated with human congenital heart diseases (CHD). In the present review, the regulation of a cardiac gene program by Csx/Nkx2-5 is summarized, with an emphasis on its role in the cardiac development and diseases.