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C B Knudson

Publications and source records attributed to C B Knudson.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Ectodermal stimulation of the production of hyaluronan-dependent pericellular matrix by embryonic limb mesodermal cells.

Interaction of ectoderm and underlying mesoderm is essential for normal vertebrate limb morphogenesis. One of the functions of limb bud ectoderm is its influence on the composition of extracellular matrix in subectodermal mesoderm, which in turn participates in morphogenesis of this region of the limb. This matrix is highly enriched in hyaluronan, even at the time when the level of hyaluronan in the chondrogenic and myogenic regions of the limb decreases, due to secretion of a stimulatory factor by the ectoderm. In this study we show that limb bud ectoderm not only stimulates hyaluronan synthesis but induces formation of large hyaluronan-dependent, pericellular matrices around cultured limb bud mesodermal cells. The ectodermal activity is mimicked in great part by fibroblast growth factor-2 and transforming growth factor-beta, and antibodies to these proteins inhibit induction of mesodermal pericellular matrix by the ectodermal factor. It has been shown by other investigators that fibroblast growth factor-2 is produced by limb ectoderm whereas transforming growth factor-2 is produced by limb ectoderm whereas transforming growth factor-beta is present in limb mesodermal tissues. Thus we conclude that the unique properties of mesodermally produced matrix underlying limb bud ectoderm are regulated, at least in part, by ectodermal fibroblast growth factor-2, probably in concert with mesodermal transforming growth factor-beta.

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Assembly of pericellular matrices by COS-7 cells transfected with CD44 lymphocyte-homing receptor genes.

The capacity to assemble and retain a pericellular matrix is correlated with the expression of the cell surface binding sites specific for the extracellular matrix macromolecule hyaluronan. These binding proteins have been termed hyaluronan receptors. The lymphocyte-homing receptor CD44 may have identity with these hyaluronan receptors. To determine whether hyaluronan receptors function independently in this capacity for matrix assembly, mammalian cells were transfected with cDNA encoding the putative hyaluronan receptor CD44. After transfection with CD44 cDNA, COS cells gained the capacity to assemble hyaluronan-dependent pericellular matrices in the presence of exogenously added hyaluronan and proteoglycan. Thus, CD44 receptors do function as matrix-organizing, matrix-anchoring hyaluronan-binding proteins. In addition, the expression of CD44/hyaluronan receptors alone is sufficient to direct this matrix assembly. If matrix assembly is a function of cells in vivo that express hyaluronan receptors, this raises interesting possibilities for the role of the receptors in cell migration, when new extracellular matrix environments are encountered.

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Hyaluronan receptor-directed assembly of chondrocyte pericellular matrix.

Initial assembly of extracellular matrix occurs within a zone immediately adjacent to the chondrocyte cell surface termed the cell-associated or pericellular matrix. Assembly within the pericellular matrix compartment requires specific cell-matrix interactions to occur, that are mediated via membrane receptors. The focus of this study is to elucidate the mechanisms of assembly and retention of the cartilage pericellular matrix proteoglycan aggregates important for matrix organization. Assembly of newly synthesized chondrocyte pericellular matrices was inhibited by the addition to hyaluronan hexasaccharides, competitive inhibitors of the binding of hyaluronan to its cell surface receptor. Fully assembled chondrocyte pericellular matrices were displaced using hyaluronan hexasaccharides as well. When exogenous hyaluronan was added to matrix-free chondrocytes in combination with aggrecan, a pericellular matrix equivalent in size to an endogenous matrix formed within 30 min of incubation. Addition of hyaluronan and aggrecan to glutaraldehyde-fixed chondrocytes resulted in matrix assembly comparable to live chondrocytes. These matrices could be inhibited from assembling by the addition of excess hyaluronan hexasaccharides or displaced once assembled by subsequent incubation with hyaluronan hexasaccharides. The results indicate that the aggrecanrich chondrocyte pericellular matrix is not only on a scaffolding of hyaluronan, but actually anchored to the cell surface via the interaction between hyaluronan and hyaluronan receptors.

Aggrecans↗

Internalization of hyaluronan by chondrocytes occurs via receptor-mediated endocytosis.

Several studies have suggested that chondrocytes must have the capacity to internalize and degrade extracellular hyaluronan. In the present study we show direct evidence that hyaluronan is, in fact, endocytosed by chondrocytes and that the endocytosis is mediated via cell surface CD44/hyaluronan receptors. Cultures of bovine articular chondrocytes as well as rat chondrosarcoma chondrocytes were incubated with either fluorescein- or 3H-labeled hyaluronan. Intense binding and accumulation of labeled hyaluronan was visualized by fluorescence microscopy or bright-field/dark-field microscopy following autoradiography. Cell surface hyaluronan was removed with either trypsin or Streptomyces hyaluronidase in order to distinguish and quantify intracellular endocytosed hyaluronan. Labeled hyaluronan was visualized within small discrete intracellular vesicles distributed throughout the cytoplasm. Binding and endocytosis of fluorescein- or 3H-labeled hyaluronan was totally blocked by the addition of excess unlabeled hyaluronan or hyaluronan hexasaccharides, competitive inhibitors of hyaluronan/hyaluronan receptor interactions. Binding and endocytosis was also blocked by the addition of anti-CD44 monoclonal antibodies. Characterization of endocytosed 3H-labeled hyaluronan demonstrated that a significant portion of the hyaluronan was degraded by both the bovine articular and rat chondrosarcoma chondrocytes. Interestingly, a higher proportion of bound hyaluronan was internalized by the bovine chondrocytes. Therefore, hyaluronan receptor-mediated endocytosis and degradation of hyaluronan may provide a critical link to the maintenance and homeostasis of cartilage tissue.

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Hyaluronan-binding proteins in development, tissue homeostasis, and disease.

The high molecular weight glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan plays an important role in tissue remodeling during development, normal tissue homeostasis, and disease. The interaction of hyaluronan with matrix hyaluronan-binding proteins and cell-surface hyaluronan receptors regulates many aspects of cell behavior such as cell migration, cell-cell adhesion, and cell differentiation. Hyaluronan-binding proteins have been grouped together as a family termed hyaladherins--further subdivided in matrix and cell-surface hyaladherins (receptors). Specific hyaluronan-hyaladherin interactions that affect cell behavior are the focus of this review. Both clearance and turnover of hyaluronan involve hyaluronan receptor-mediated endocytosis. Pericellular matrix assembly and retention on many cells, especially chondrocytes, are mediated by hyaluronan receptors, in coordination with other matrix hyaladherins. Hyaluronan can also have an independent, direct effect on cell-to-cell adhesion as well as migration, again mediated by specific cell-surface hyaluronan receptors. This is especially apparent in tumor cells, where metastatic potential is correlated with hyaluronan receptor expression. As migrating cells encounter new environments enriched in matrix hyaladherins, the capacity for matrix assembly may terminate cell migration. Thus, the temporal/spatial deposition of particular matrix hyaladherins also serves as signals or matrix cues to alter cell behavior.

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Assembly of a chondrocyte-like pericellular matrix on non-chondrogenic cells. Role of the cell surface hyaluronan receptors in the assembly of a pericellular matrix.

In this study, we have examined the capacity of various cell types, which express cell surface hyaluronan receptors, to organize a chondrocyte-like pericellular matrix when given chondrocyte-derived extracellular matrix macromolecules exogenously. The assembly of a pericellular matrix was visualized by a particle exclusion assay. Without the addition of exogenous macromolecular components, none of the cell types studied exhibited significant pericellular matrices extending from their plasma membranes. However, upon the addition of high molecular weight hyaluronan in combination with aggregating cartilage proteoglycan monomers, large pericellular matrices were formed within two hours of incubation. No pericellular matrices were formed if these macromolecular components were added separately at equivalent concentrations or if the components were added in the presence of hyaluronan hexasaccharide, a competitive inhibitor of hyaluronan interaction with cell surface hyaluronan receptors. Fully assembled pericellular matrices could also be displaced by the subsequent addition of hyaluronan hexasaccharides. Nonliving, glutaraldehyde-fixed cells, which retained functional hyaluronan receptors, maintained the capacity to assembly pericellular matrices with exogenous components, in serum-containing or serum-free medium. Cells that were incubated with exogenous matrix macromolecules for 24 h, followed by a chase incubation in medium minus the exogenous macromolecules, continued to maintain the matrix for up to 6 h on live cells and more than 24 h on glutaraldehyde-fixed cells. Cell types that did not express hyaluronan receptors were not capable of organizing such pericellular matrices when incubated with these exogenous components. These findings suggest that cells expressing hyaluronan receptors have a significant capacity to organize their immediate extracellular environment via hyaluronan-hyaluronan receptor interactions. Possible physiological functions for this type of matrix organizing capacity are discussed.

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Similar epithelial-stromal interactions in the regulation of hyaluronate production during limb morphogenesis and tumor invasion.

Changes in extracellular hyaluronate occur during the onset of cell migratory stages of development, wound healing, regeneration, and tumor invasion. During development, the production of hyaluronate, which is spatially and temporarily patterned, is regulated, in part, by epithelial-mesenchymal interactions, as demonstrated in the developing limb (Knudson, and Toole (1988) Biochem, Int., 17, 735). Analogous regulatory interactions occur during tumor invasion. One of us (Knudson, W. et al. (1984) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 81, 6767) has shown that several human carcinoma cells interact with normal human fibroblasts in co-culture to effect the stimulation of hyaluronate production. This type of interaction in vivo may account for the large accumulations of hyaluronate often associated with invasive tumors. Heterologous coculture experiments were performed to determine whether carcinoma cells and embryonic epithelial cells express a common regulatory mechanism to effect the stimulation of hyaluronate production by stromal cells. Human LX-1 lung carcinoma cells or human HCV-29T bladder carcinoma cells cultured together with chick embryo limb bud mesoderm synthesized 2- to 4-fold more hyaluronate than the sum of that produced by carcinoma and mesoderm cultures grown separately. Co-cultures of chick embryo limb bud epithelial cells with adult human skin fibroblasts also synthesized 1.5- to 2.5-fold more hyaluronate. The increase in hyaluronate in these co-cultures was not due to a stimulation of cell proliferation and was additive to the effect of fetal bovine serum. The results suggest a common mechanism of epithelial-stromal interaction in the regulation of hyaluronate production during embryonic development and tumor invasion.

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Hyaluronate-cell interactions and growth factor regulation of hyaluronate synthesis during limb development.

Hyaluronate is a major component of the intercellular matrix surrounding proliferating and migrating cells in embryonic tissues. When placed in culture, mesodermal cells from the early, proliferative stages of limb development produce high levels of hyaluronate and exhibit prominent hyaluronate-dependent pericellular coats. Cells from the subsequent stages of mesodermal condensation that precede differentiation to cartilage and muscle produce less hyaluronate and do not exhibit these coats. Also at this time, binding sites specific for hyaluronate appear on the surface of the mesodermal cells. These binding sites may participate in the mechanism of condensation by mediating cell aggregation and the endocytosis of hyaluronate. Further changes in hyaluronate-cell interaction occur during differentiation of the condensed mesoderm to cartilage and muscle. Hyaluronate synthesis and pericellular coat formation in the mesoderm are stimulated by a factor, related to transforming growth factor-beta, that is produced by the surrounding ectoderm. The early limb also contains high levels of basic fibroblast growth factor. Its concentration is highest at the earliest stages, when cell proliferation and hyaluronate synthesis are prominent activities, and this factor has been shown to stimulate both these activities in cultures of limb mesodermal cells. Thus fibroblast growth factor and transforming growth factor-beta may be important in the regulation of early growth and morphogenesis of the limb.

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Epithelial-mesenchymal interaction in the regulation of hyaluronate production during limb development.

Cocultures of ectoderm and mesoderm from chick limb buds produced 1.5 to 2.5-fold more hyaluronate than the sum of that produced by epithelium and mesoderm cultures grown separately. Mesoderm incubated with conditioned medium prepared from cultures of limb ectoderm synthesized 2.5-fold more hyaluronate. The increase in hyaluronate was not due to a stimulation of cell proliferation, nor was there increased incorporation into total protein or chondroitin sulfate. These results suggest that in the developing limb the ectoderm may influence the subjacent mesoderm to maintain a relatively high rate of hyaluronate synthesis, resulting in a peripheral limb bud matrix enriched in hyaluronate.

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Hyaluronate-cell interactions during differentiation of chick embryo limb mesoderm.

The mechanism of interaction of hyaluronate with the surface of cells from embryonic chick limbs was studied using cell cultures of mesoderm from various developmental stages. The mode of interaction of hyaluronate with the cell surface changed at the onset of mesodermal cell condensation prior to differentiation of cartilage and muscle. At this time hyaluronate binding sites appeared on the cells and continued to be present on differentiated chondrocytes but not on myotubes. Direct measurement of hyaluronate binding was made using stage 24 mesodermal cells and membranes isolated from cells derived from various limb stages. The stage 24 cells and membranes from stage 22, 24, and 26 cells exhibited hyaluronate binding, but not membranes from stage 19 mesoderm cultures. At stage 38, membranes from chondrocyte cultures exhibited the highest hyaluronate binding, and membranes from myoblasts and fibroblasts intermediate binding, whereas membranes from myotube-enriched cultures lacked binding activity. No significant competition of hyaluronate binding by chondroitin sulfate was observed. Occupied hyaluronate binding sites were measured by the displacement of radiolabeled cell surface hyaluronate with exogenous, unlabeled hyaluronate. Very little hyaluronate was displaced from mesodermal cells derived from the youngest embryos, namely, stage 19 or stage 20-21. However, greater than 50% of cell surface hyaluronate was displaced from stage 22 and 24 mesodermal cells. The addition of exogenous hyaluronate to stage 26 mesoderm, the stage of onset of cartilage differentiation, and to stage 38 chondrocytes resulted in displacement of large proportions of both hyaluronate and chondroitin sulfate. Addition of exogenous chondroitin sulfate did not cause displacement of significant amounts of cell surface hyaluronate or chondroitin sulfate. These results indicate the presence and developmental modulation of specific binding sites for hyaluronate on limb cells during their differentiation.

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Changes in the pericellular matrix during differentiation of limb bud mesoderm.

Mesodermal cells in the developing chick embryo limb bud appear morphologically homogeneous until stage 21. At stage 22 the prechondrogenic and premyogenic areas begin to condense, culminating in the appearance of cartilage and muscle by stage 25-26. We have examined changes in the hyaluronate-dependent pericellular matrices elaborated by mesodermal cells of the limb bud from different developmental stages and the corresponding changes in production of cell surface-associated and secreted glycosaminoglycans. When placed in culture, most early mesodermal cells (stage 17 lateral plate and stage 19 limb bud) exhibited pericellular coats as visualized by the exclusion of particles. These coats were removed by treatment of the cultures with Streptomyces hyaluronidase. Cells from stage 20-21 limb buds (precondensation) had smaller coats, whereas cells derived from stage 22, 24, and 26 limb buds (condensed chondrogenic and myogenic regions) lacked coats. However, coats were reformed during subsequent cytodifferentiation of chondrocytes; chondrocytes from stage 28 and 30 limb buds, and more mature chondrocytes from stage 38 tibiae, had pericellular coats. Thus, cytodifferentiation of cartilage is accompanied by extensive intercellular matrix accumulation in vivo and reacquisition of pericellular coats in vitro. Although their structure was still dependent on hyaluronate, chondrocyte coats were associated with increased proteoglycan content compared to the coats of early mesodermal cells. The amount of incorporation of [3H]acetate into cell surface hyaluronate remained relatively constant from stages 17 to 38, whereas in the medium compartment, incorporation into hyaluronate was more than 4-fold greater by stage 17 and 19 mesodermal cells than by cells from stages between 20 and 38. However, there was a progressive increase in incorporation into cell surface and medium chondroitin sulfate throughout these developmental stages. Thus, at the time of cellular condensation in the limb bud in vivo, we have observed a reduction in size of hyaluronate-dependent pericellular coats and a dramatic change in the relative proportion of hyaluronate and chondroitin sulfate produced by the mesodermal cells in vitro.

Acetates↗

Fluorescent morphological probe for hyaluronate.

Hyaluronate levels change dramatically during morphogenesis of various tissues and organs. Morphological detection of the exact temporal and spatial distribution patterns of hyaluronate may help to elucidate its role in morphogenesis. Since no specific direct method for visualizing hyaluronate with the light or electron microscope is currently available, we have developed a morphological probe by exploiting the high-affinity interaction of cartilage proteoglycan with hyaluronate. The core protein of this proteoglycan consists of a region that binds specifically to hyaluronate with a high association constant, and a region to which the majority of sulfated polysaccharide chains are covalently attached. The polysaccharide chains were removed by treatment with chondroitinase ABC, and the core protein, labeled with rhodamine, was used as the probe. This fluorescent probe binds reversibly and specifically to [3H]hyaluronate in a binding assay using ammonium sulfate precipitation of the core protein. The probe has been used to visualize the cell surface hyaluronate of rat fibrosarcoma cells, 3T3 cells, and SV-40 transformed 3T3 cells, three cell types with significantly different amounts of cell surface-associated hyaluronate.

Aggrecans↗