Patterning Mechanisms in Cardiovascular Dysfunction: From Bench to Bedside

The heart and blood vessels are incredibly complex organs that rely on precise communication between cells and molecules to function properly. A wide range of molecular mechanisms work together to control how heart cells grow, arrange themselves, and respond to stress or damage. When these molecular signals go wrong, they can lead to heart and blood vessel diseases like heart failure, arrhythmias, or blocked arteries.

Advances in single-cell omics, organoid models, and high-resolution imaging, now allow unprecedented access to the cellular choreography underlying heart formation and vascular organization. Understanding how signaling pathways orchestrate spatial patterning during early heart morphogenesis could help identify critical windows of vulnerability in disease. Likewise, examining how mispatterning events contribute to pathological remodeling—such as fibrosis, arrhythmogenesis, or atherosclerotic plaque formation—can inform therapeutic targeting.

This Research Topic will bring together studies that explore the molecular building blocks behind heart and blood vessel diseases. Recent advances in understanding how disruptions in cellular and tissue patterning contribute to cardiovascular dysfunction, with an emphasis on developmental biology and preclinical disease models. Submissions may include, but are not limited to:

• Decoding molecular signaling pathways that regulate cardiac and vascular patterning.

• Exploring biochemical pathways involved in myocardial dysfunction and disease progression.

• Investigating how spatial mispatterning contributes to structural and functional cardiovascular abnormalities.

• Identifying key enzymes and signaling molecules implicated in cardiovascular pathologies.

• Developing small-molecule modulators and enzyme inhibitors targeting dysregulated pathways in heart disease.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Cardiovascular Patterning, Cardiac Tissue Organization Cardiovascular Disease Mechanisms, Vascular Patterning

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.