Basement membrane in health and disease- an enigma to histopathologist (original) (raw)

Proteomic definitions of basement membrane composition in health and disease

Matrix Biology, 2017

Basement membranes are formed from condensed networks of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. These structures underlie all epithelial, mesothelial and endothelial sheets and provide an essential structural scaffold. Candidate-based investigations have established that predominant components of basement membranes are laminins, collagen type IV, nidogens and heparan sulfate proteoglycans. More recently, global proteomic approaches have been applied to investigate ECM and these analyses confirm tissue-specific ECM proteomes with a high degree of complexity. The proteomes consist of structural as well as regulatory ECM proteins such as proteases and growth factors. This review is focused on the proteomic analysis of basement membranes and illustrates how this approach can be used to build our understanding of ECM regulation in health and disease.

Basement membranes in skin: unique matrix structures with diverse functions?

Histochemistry and Cell Biology, 2009

The view of extracellular matrix (ECM) has evolved from a merely scaVolding and space Wlling tissue element to an interface actively controlling cellular activities and tissue functions. A highly specialized form of ECM is the basement membrane (BM), an ubiquitous sheet-like polymeric structure composed of a set of distinct glycoproteins and proteoglycans. In this review we are largely focusing on function and assembly of BM in skin (1) at the dermo-epidermal interface and (2) in the resident microvasculature. The role of the non-polymeric components perlecan and particularly nidogen is exempliWed by reviewing experiments based on genetic approaches and adequate experimental skin models in vivo and in vitro. While in mice total deWciency of one of these components is eventually developmentally lethal, the severity of the defects varies drastically between tissues and also the skin models recapitulating BM formation in vitro. There is accumulating evidence that this relies on the mechanical properties, the molecular composition of the BM, the adjacent ECM or connective tissue, the dynamics of molecular assembly, and 'minor' tissue-speciWc modiWer or adapter components. Though the role of nidogen or perlecan is still remaining a controversial issue, the statements 'being essential for BM/or not' should be consequently referred to the developmental, tissue, and functional (e.g., repair) context.

New concepts in basement membrane biology

FEBS Journal, 2015

Basement membranes (BMs) are thin sheets of extracellular matrix that outline epithelia, muscle fibers, blood vessels and peripheral nerves. The current view of BM structure and functions is based mainly on transmission electron microscopy imaging, in vitro protein binding assays, and phenotype analysis of human patients, mutant mice and invertebrata. Recently, MS-based protein analysis, biomechanical testing and cell adhesion assays with in vivo derived BMs have led to new and unexpected insights. Proteomic analysis combined with ultrastructural studies showed that many BMs undergo compositional and structural changes with advancing age. Atomic force microscopy measurements in combination with phenotype analysis have revealed an altered mechanical stiffness that correlates with specific BM pathologies in mutant mice and human patients. Atomic force microscopy-based height measurements strongly suggest that BMs are more than two-fold thicker than previously estimated, providing greater freedom for modelling the large protein polymers within BMs. In addition, data gathered using BMs extracted from mutant mice showed that laminin has a crucial role in BM stability. Finally, recent evidence demonstrate that BMs are bi-functionally organized, leading to the proposition that BM-sidedness contributes to the alternating epithelial and stromal tissue arrangements that are found in all metazoan species. We propose that BMs are ancient structures with tissue-organizing functions and were essential in the evolution of metazoan species.

Structural heterogeneity of the noncollagenous domain of basement membrane collagen

Journal of Biological Chemistry

The noncollagenous domain of collagen from three different basement membranes of bovine origin (glomerular, lens capsule, and placental) was excised with bacterial collagenase, purified under nondenaturing conditions, and characterized. In each case the domain existed as a hexamer comprised of four distinct subunits (al(IV)NCl, aZ(IV)NCl, M2*, and M3). Each subunit exists in both monomeric and dimeric (disulfide-cross-linked) forms. Certain dimers also exist which contain nonreducible cross-links. The hexamers from the three membranes differ with respect to stoichiometry of subunits and subunit isoforms and to the degree of cross-linking of monomers into dimers. The minor subunits, M2* and M3, vary in quantity over a 20-fold range relative to the major ones among the three hexamers. The results indicate that: 1) at least two populations of triple-helical collagen molecules, differing in chain composition, exist in each membrane and that their relative proportions are tissue-specific; and 2) the chemical nature of the noncollagenous domain of these populations is tissue-specific with regard to subunit isoforms and relative proportion of reducible and nonreducible cross-links in dimers.

Origin of basement membrane type IV collagen in xenografted human epithelial tumor cell lines

The American journal of pathology, 1990

The origin of basement membrane (BM), deposited in epithelial neoplasms, was studied in xenografts of human tumor cell lines in nude mice and rats. Cell lines were chosen that in vitro do (WISH, KB) or do not (5583-E; HT-29) produce BM components, more specifically, type IV collagen. Basement membrane deposition was studied by immunohistochemistry, using species cross-reactive polyclonal anti-human type IV collagen antiserum, mouse- and rat-specific polyclonal anti-mouse type IV collagen antiserum, human-specific monoclonal anti-type-IV collagen antibody, and by in situ hybridization, using a 32S-labeled species cross-reactive cDNA probe, specific for type IV collagen mRNA. In the xenografts, species-cross-reactive anti-type-IV collagen antiserum demonstrated the presence of irregular and discontinuous BM. In 5583-E and HT-29 xenografts, only murine type IV collagen epitopes were detected. In contrast, in WISH and in KB xenografts, the BM stained human as well as murine type IV coll...