Key result
SOX9 governs embryonic heart development but drives myocardial fibrosis and vascular aging in adult disease.
Why the study?
Although the role of SOX9 in embryological cardiovascular development is described, research exploring its roles in the development of cardiovascular diseases is limited.
SOX9 represents a promising fundamental therapeutic target for cardiovascular disorders due to its central regulation of extracellular matrix composition and cellular fate transitions across myocardial fibrosis, vascular aging, and valvular pathology.
SOX9 inhibition merits preclinical testing in fibrosis models; hypothesis-generating for cardiovascular therapeutics without clinical outcome data.
SRY-related high-mobility group box 9 (SOX9) is an indispensable transcription factor that regulates multiple developmental pathways related to stem cell differentiation and progenitor cell development. Several studies have investigated the role of SOX9 in chondrogenesis and oncogenesis. Significant research exists describing the role of SOX9 in embryological development of the cardiovascular system. However, there is limited research exploring the roles of SOX9 in development of cardiovascular diseases. In this review we highlight and review the biology and contributions of SOX9 in embryologic cardiac development and shed some light on its participation in the development of myocardial fibrosis, which in turn leads to a wide variety of adverse cardiac outcomes.
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Cheng et al. (2025) conducted a review in Cardiovascular diseases. SOX9 was evaluated. SOX9 is a crucial transcription factor that governs embryonic heart development but also acts as a key pathogenic driver in adult cardiovascular diseases by promoting myocardial fibrosis and vascular aging.
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