NKX2-5 and atrial septal defect: Cardiac-specific transcription factors (GATA4 and NKX2-5), extracellular signaling molecules (VEGFA and BMP10), and cardiac proteins (MYL2, MYL3, MYH7, TNNT1, and TNNT3) are down-regulated in ASD patients, which may affect cardiac atrial septum formation, cardiomyocyte proliferation and myocardial development [27,31].