Consistent with the aforementioned observations, the expression levels of FOXO3, PUMA and LC3II/I were all increased in DCM murine heart tissues, whereas FOXO3 knockout dramatically decreased their elevations (Figure 7A,B), indicating that FOXO3 plays a central role in mediating cardiac apoptosis and autophagy in DCM pathogenesis. Here, FOXO3 is linked to familial dilated cardiomyopathy.