ILK and familial dilated cardiomyopathy: Genetic deletion or mutation of many genes encoding Z-disc and cytoskeletal proteins results in DCM in mice and humans, including Cypher (Vatta et al., 2003; Zheng et al., 2009), muscle LIM protein (MLP) (Arber et al., 1997; Knoll et al., 2002), integrin-linked kinase (ILK) (White et al., 2006; Knoll et al., 2007), vinculin (Zemljic-Harpf et al., 2007), and desmin (Li et al., 1999).