In preliminary studies we evaluated mRNA levels of typical canonical (Wnt3a, Wnt8a) and non-canonical (Wnt5a and Wnt11) Wnt ligands in myocardial tissue from DCM patients and found that the non-canonical ligands were expressed with the highest levels of Wnt5a, while the canonical Wnt3a and Wnt8 were hardly expressed (CT values from RT-PCR > 35) (Fig. 3E). This evidence concerns the gene WNT5A and familial dilated cardiomyopathy.