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Biomedical subjects

E Ruoslahti

Publications and source records attributed to E Ruoslahti.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources

Laminin and fibronectin in cell adhesion: enhanced adhesion of cells from regenerating liver to laminin.

Laminin, a basement membrane glycoprotein isolated from cultures of mouse endodermal cells and rat yolk sac carcinoma cells, promoted the attachment of liver cells obtained from regenerating mouse liver. Cells from normal mouse liver attached readily to dishes coated with fibronectin but attached poorly to surfaces coated with laminin. Both proteins efficiently promoted the attachment of cells from livers undergoing regeneration. After regeneration, the attachment to laminin returned to the low levels found in animals not subjected to partial hepatectomy but attachment to fibronectin remained high. Immunofluorescent staining of sections of normal liver with antilaminin revealed the presence of laminin in or adjacent to the walls of the bile ducts and blood vessels. After induction of regeneration by partial hepatectomy, increased amounts of laminin appeared in the sinusoidal areas. After carbon tetrachloride poisoning, staining for laminin was especially pronounced in the necrotic and postnecrotic areas around the central veins. This additional expression of laminin was transient. It reached a maximum around 5--6 days after the injury and then gradually disappeared. These findings show that laminin is an adhesive protein. The increase of laminin in regenerating liver and the adhesiveness of cells from such livers to laminin suggest a role for laminin in the maintenance of a proper tissue organization during liver regeneration.

Animals↗

Deposition of plasma fibronectin in tissues.

Tissue distribution of human fibronectin injected intravenously into mice was studied by using immunofluorescence with species-specific antisera to human and mouse fibronectins. Human fibronectin was detected in the tissues of mice injected with human fibronectin. The distribution of the injected fibronectin was indistinguishable from that of mouse fibronectin. The staining for human fibronectin in the livers of injected mice was unaffected by perfusion of the livers prior to the preparation of tissue sections, and human IgG injected in mice as a control was not detectable in tissues by immunofluorescence. Mice were also injected with fragments of fibronectin with molecular weights close to 200,000. These fragments lack parts of the NH2 and COOH termini of the fibronectin polypeptide, including the part with the interchain disulfide bond(s), but retain the ability to bind to collagen and heparin and the ability to mediate cell attachment. They showed essentially no tissue incorporation, suggesting that the integrity of the fibronectin molecule is important for the accumulation of fibronectin in tissues. The incorporation of injected fibronectin into tissues demonstrated here suggests that circulating fibronectin contributes to the extracellular matrix of tissues.

Animals↗

Differentiation of fetal liver cells in vitro.

Fetal mouse liver hepatocytes proliferate on a substrate of irradiated pigskin epidermis scored with scalpel blade slits to permit cell access to the basement membrane. At the time the cells are explanted, fetal genes, such as those responsible for production of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGTase), are strongly expressed. The levels of GGTase decrease rapidly and become undetectable within 2 weeks. The levels of AFP decrease more gradually but become undetectable after 3-5 weeks in culture. As the AFP levels decrease, there is a concomitant increase in albumin production. Hydrocortisone prolongs production of AFP (for up to 8 weeks) but not of GGTase, and it decreases albumin production for up to 8 weeks. Once cells lose AFP expression, addition of hydrocortisone does not restart it. Based on these data, fetal mouse liver hepatocytes, cultured on pigskin, seem to be an excellent in vitro model for liver cell maturation.

Animals↗

Concomitant loss of cell surface fibronectin and laminin from transformed rat kidney cells.

Both fibronectin and laminin were found by immunofluorescence as a matrix at the surface of normal rat kidney cells. These matrices were absent from the surface of virally transformed rat kidney cells. Soluble fibronectin and laminin were detected in the culture media of the transformed as well as the normal cells. Culture supernates of the transformed cells contained even more fibronectin than the supernates of the transformed cells contained even more fibronectin than the supernates of the normal cells while laminin was present in similar amounts in both culture media. This shows that the loss of fibronectin and laminin from the surface of the transformed cells is caused by failure of the cells to deposit these proteins into an insoluble matrix and not caused by inadequate production. Fibronectins isolated from culture media of the normal and transformed cells were similar in SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophresis. Laminin isolated from culture media by affinity chromatography on heparin-Sepharose followed by immunoprecipitation was composed of three main polypeptides, one with a molecular weight of 400,000 and two with a molecular weight close to 200,000 in both cell types. Fibronectins from both cell types were equally active in promoting cell attachment. Rat fibronectin from transformed cells, like normal cells, when applied to culture dishes coated with fibronectin, readily attached and spread on the substratum, requiring approximately the same amount of fibronectin as the normal cells. On the basis of these results it seem that the failure of the transformed cells to incorporate fibronectin into an insoluble cell surface matix is not a consequence of a demonstrable change in the functional characteristics of the fibronectin molecule or in the ability of the cells to interact with fibronectin. It may depend on as yet unidentified interactions of the cell surface. Similar interactions may be needed for the deposition of laminin into the matrix, because laminin was also absent from the surface of transformed cells, despite its being synthesized by these cells.

Animals↗

Heterogeneity of Genotypic and phenotypic characteristics of fifteen permanent cell lines derived from human gliomas.

Six new permanent cell lines were established from human gliomas and compared to nine other cell lines from human gliomas. All fifteen lines had individually distinct HLA phenotypes and all but two, which were from a black patient, had type B glucose-6-phosphate-de;hydrogenase isoenzymes. Morphologically, the lines could be classified into four patterns descriptively designated as fibroblastic, fascicular, epithelial, or glial. Four of the lines grew progressively and could be serially transplanted when injected into athymic mice; two others grew initially and then regressed. From none to 100% of cells developed elongated tapering processes and showed reduction in nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio in the presence of 1 mM cyclic AMP and theophylline. Levels of 2'-3' cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphohydrolase activity ranged from nondetectable to 12.78 +/- 1.49 micromoles 2' AMP formed per hr mgm total protein. None of the lines had detectable S-100 protein, but two had readily demonstrable glial fibrillary acidic protein in indirect immunofluorescence. Fibronectin levels in spent culture supernatants ranged from undetectable levels to 21.4 micrograms/ml/10(5) cells. All but one line shared surface antigens with normal human adult or fetal brain, as detected in absorption analyses with nonhuman primate antiserum raised against glioblastoma multiforme tissue or cell line U-251 MG. Although there were many common properties of the lines, each line had a unique profile of the parameters evaluated. This heterogeneity most likely reflects the individuality of the tumors of origin and individual genotypes and capacity for a range of phenotypic expression of cells.

2',3'-Cyclic-Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases↗

Fibronectin.

The current knowledge of the structure, expression and functions and fibronectin is reviewed. Fibronectin is a high molecular glycoprotein present in the blood, connective tissue and at cell surface. It is synthesized by many types of differentiated cells and is believed to be involved in the attachment of cells to the surrounding extracellular matrix. Fibronectin has affinity to the other main components of extracellular matrix, collagen and glycosaminoglycans. It also interacts with cell surfaces as shown by the fact that fibronectin-collagen complexes, or fibronectin alone when insolubilized on a surface such as plastic, enhances the attachment of various types of cells to such surfaces. It seems that fibronectin, through its binding to collagen and to the cell surface, forms a bridge between the cell and its surrounding matrix. Circulating fibronectin may participate in the formation of extracellular matrix in tissues. It may also function as a nonspecific opsonin design to facilitate the uptake of tissue debris by phagocytic cells. Studies aimed at elucidating the significance of fibronectin in physiological phenomena and in disease have only just begun. The abundance of fibronectin in basement membrane structures and the development changes observed in its expression lead one to believe that the attachment (or lack of it) of cells to fibronectin plays a significant role in morphogenetic events or in normal development. Malignantly transformed cells tend to lack cell-associated fibronectin. The significance of the lack of surface fibronectin in transformed cells is a matter of some controversy, but it fibronectin is indeed the main mechanism that anchors cells to the extracellular matrix, disturbances of this mechanism could play an important role in malignancy and many other diseases.

Cells↗

Hypothesis: when is a seminoma not a seminoma?

A xenograft line, HX 53, has been established in immune-suppressed mice from a specimen of a lymph node metastasis in a patient with a histological diagnosis of seminoma but with markedly raised circulating levels of alpha-fetoprotein. Histological, immunocytochemical, and ultrastructural studies of this xenograft line have suggested that a solid variant of yolk sac carcinoma may exist, which morphologically resembles seminoma, or that a continuum of differentiation exists between seminoma and yolk sac carcinoma.

Adult↗

Laminin, a noncollagenous component of epithelial basement membranes synthesized by a rat yolk sac tumor.

Laminin, a glycoprotein antigenically similar or identical to a component of epithelial basement membranes, was identified as a major component of the abundant extracellular matrix synthesized by an experimentally induced rat yolk sac tumor. Immunocytochemical staining revealed laminin in cultured tumor cells as well as in their extracellular matrix. The presence of soluble laminin in the culture media of the tumor cells was demonstrated using metabolic labeling followed by identification by immunoprecipitation and sodium dodecyl sulfate:polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. This revealed two polypeptides with molecular weights of approximately 200,000 and 400,000. These comigrated with the polypeptides of mouse laminin isolated previously. The yolk sac tumor tissue grown in vivo contained laminin in the tumor cells and in the extracellular material as evidenced by immunofluorescence and immunoperoxidase staining. Immunization with the tumor matrix resulted in an antiserum that contained antilaminin and natifibronectin and was made specific for laminin by absorption with fibronectin. This antiserum precipitated laminin polypeptides from culture medium of yolk sac tumour cells and stained basement membranes in rat tissues in a manner indistinguishable from antilaminin. The presence of laminin in rat yolk sac cells, the presumed origin of our yolk sac tumor, was studied in some detail. Laminin was found to be present in normal cells of the visceral as well as the parietal yolk sac layer and in their basement membranes suggesting, but not proving, that both types of cells have ability to synthesize laminin. Production of laminin and the presence of laminin-containing basement membrane material may be important for the biological behavior of the yolk sac tumor. This tumor will also be a useful source of laminin for chemical and biological characterization of this basement membrane protein.

Animals↗

Basement membrane changes in breast cancer detected by immunohistochemical staining for laminin.

The distribution of the basement membrane glycoprotein laminin was studied by the immunoperoxidase technique in benign and malignant human breast tissue and in axillary lymph nodes from patients with breast cancer. An antiserum prepared against rat laminin was used. The specificity of this antiserum against human laminin was studied using the FL cell line of human epithelial-like cells derived from normal amniotic membrane. The antiserum reacted with these cells in immunoperoxidase staining and precipitated metabolically labeled secreted polypeptides which comigrated with polypeptides with molecular weights of 400,000 and 200,000 of rat laminin in sodium dodecyl sulfate:polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The neoplastic cells in malignant breast tissues showed strong cytoplasmic staining for laminin, and a positive reaction was aslo found in lymph node metastases. In some cases in which only micrometastases were present, these cells also stained strongly for laminin. In nonmalignant breast tissues, the epithelial cells of the duct were positive for laminin, but the staining was weaker than in the carcinomas. Pretreatment of the fixed tissue sections with trypsin markedly enhanced the staining of basement membranes for laminin. In trypsin-treated sections of normal breast tissue and benign lesions, the laminin staining delineated continuous basement membranes. In carcinomas representing the more differentiated types, basement membranes presumably produced by the tumor cells could be revealed by laminin staining, but they were thinner and discontinuous. The poorly differentiated carcinomas lacked organized basement membranes detectable by laminin staining. Our studies suggest that staining for laminin may be a useful adjunct test for detection of micrometatases in lymph nodes. The correlation of disintegration of the laminin-containing basement membranes of tumors with increasingly anaplastic appearance supports the notion that basement membranes may play a role in tumor invasion.

Basement Membrane↗

Distribution of fibronectin on clonal cell lines of a rat mammary adenocarcinoma growing in vitro and in vivo at primary and metastatic sites.

With the use of a rat 13762 mammary adenocarcinoma tumor, we have examined the relationship between cellular fibronectin (FN) expression and ability to metastasize spontaneously to regional lymphatic and distant blood-borne sites. This model is based on the isolation and establishment of cell clones from primary parental tumor and from spontaneous metastases that show differing metastatic potentials when implanted s.c. into the mammary fat pads of syngeneic female Fischer 344/CRBL rats. Cellular FN expression was determined in tissue culture as well as primary and secondary tumor sites, utilizing: (a) indirect immunofluorescence microscopy with a specific anti-rat FN antibody (in vitro and in vivo grown cells); (b) competition radioimmunoassay for cell-released FN (in vitro grown cells); and (c) surface labeling by radioiodination-sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis-autoradiography for cell surface-bound FN (in vitro grown cells). Tissue culture-grown parental tumor clones displayed FN at their cell surfaces. At confluency, they expressed higher quantities of FN at their peripheries and in fibrillar structures between adjacent cells and released greater amounts of this glycoprotein. Lung metastases-derived tumor clones released negligible amounts of FN by radioimmunoassay and failed to express detectable amounts of FN by indirect immunofluorescence and cell surface-labeling techniques. However, when parental tumor- and metastasis-derived clones of widely different metastatic potentials were carefully examined for FN expression and release, there was no obvious relationship between metastasis and FN expression or release in culture or display in tumors at primary or secondary sites. The results suggest that expression or release of FN per se is not a determinant of metastasis, although it may be a factor in certain steps of the metastatic sequence.

Adenocarcinoma↗

High affinity of alpha-foetoprotein for arachidonate and other fatty acids.

Fatty acid analysis of purified bovine alpha-foetoprotein showed it to contain 2.7 mol of fatty acid/mol of alpha-foetoprotein. Purified alpha-foetoprotein focused at isoelectric point 4.8. Removal of bound ligands from alpha-foetoprotein by charcoal treatment changed its isoelectric point to 5.2. This change could be reversed by addition of exogenous fatty acids to the defatted alpha-foetoprotein. Albumin isolated from the same foetal calf serum source as alpha-foetoprotein contained 1.4 mol of fatty acid/mol of protein. alpha-Foetoprotein and albumin contained comparable amounts of fatty acids with 14 to 18 carbon atoms, but alpha-foetoprotein contained 16 times as much of the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids as albumin. alpha-Foetoprotein was found to have slightly higher affinity for palmitate and linoleate and severalfold higher affinity for arachidonate than albumin. These findings suggest that alpha-foetoprotein may play a role in the foetal metabolism of the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Animals↗

Complexing of fibronectin glycosaminoglycans and collagen.

Collagen-fibronectin complexes, formed by binding of fibronectin to gelatin or collagen insolubilized on Sepharose, were found to bind 20-40% of radioactivity in [35S]heparin. Fibronectin attached directly to Sepharose also bound [35S]heparin, while gelatin-Sepharose without fibronectin did not. Unlabeled heparin and highly sulfated heparan sulfate efficiently inhibited the binding of [35S]heparin, hyaluronic acid and dermatan sulfate were slightly inhibitory, while chondroitin sulfates and heparan sulfate with a low sulfate content did not inhibit. The interaction of heparin with fibronectin bound to gelatin resulted in complexes which required higher concentrations of urea to dissociate than complexes of fibronectin and gelatin alone. Heparin as well as highly sulfate heparan sulfate and hyaluronic acid brought about agglutination of plastic beads coated with gelatin when fibronectin was present. Neither fibronectin nor glycosaminoglycans alone agglutinated the beads. It is proposed that the multiple interactions of fibronectin, collagen and glycosaminoglycans revealed in these assays could play a role in the deposition of these substances as an insoluble extracellular matrix. Alterations of the quality or quantity of any one of these components could have important effects on cell surface interactions, including the lack of cell surface fibronectin in malignant cells.

Animals↗

alpha-fetoprotein binding specificity for arachidonate, bilirubin, docosahexaenoate, and palmitate. A spin label study.

A dianionic spin label, 1-L-glutamate-5-N-(1-oxyl-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-aminopiperidinyl)-i,4-dinitrobenzene, has been used to probe the relative binding specificity of a single anionic ligand site on bovine alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) to arachidonate, bilirubin, docosahexaenoate, and plamitate. The binding isotherm of the spin label with AFP, as shown by a Scatchard plot, indicates the presence of a single high affinity binding site. The site-site relationship of the four endogenous ligands, arachidonate, bilirubin, docosahexaenoate, and palmitate, was determined by studying their effectiveness in competing for this anionic ligand binding site on AFP. Scatchard plots of the spin label in the presence of 1 to 3 molar equivalents of arachidonate, bilirubin, and docosahexaenoate and up to 6 molar equivalents of palmitate have been determined. The effectiveness of the four endogenous ligands in displacing the spin label from its primary binding site is bilirubin greater than or equal arachidonate approximately equal to docosahexaenoate greater than palmitate. These results indicate that polyunsaturated essential fatty acids and bilirubin share a high affinity binding site on AFP. We propose that the function of this anionic ligand binding site on AFP is for the transport of bilirubin and polyunsaturated fatty acids in fetal serum, as well as for the cross-placental transfer of this metabolite and of essential fatty acids.

Animals↗