Congenital heart disease is a leading cause of death in children with about 40,000 babies born in America each year with congenital heart disease. Common problems include atrial septal defects, patent ductus arteriosus and ventricular septal defects. However, very little is known about the underlying causes of congenital heart disease or the embryonic origin of cardiac malformation. The goal of our recent research has been to examine the role that specific growth factors and their receptors play in the development of the contractile apparatus of the heart and the experiments reported here further define the role of PDGF-AA and the PDGF alpha-receptor (PDGFR-α) during early heart growth and morphogenesis.

The PDGF ligand and receptor system consists of two well-characterized ligands, PDGF-A and B, and a third recently identified ligand, PDGF-C. The active forms of PDGFA and B exist as either AA or BB homodimers or an AB heterodimer. The PDGFR-α binds all of the dimers with high affinity while the PDGFR-β binds only the PDGF-BB homodimer with high affinity.