Regulated clustering of variant CD44 proteins increases their hyaluronate binding capacity (original) (raw)

Mechanisms regulating the binding activity of CD44 to hyaluronic acid

Frontiers in bioscience : a journal and virtual library, 1998

CD44 is a cell surface glycoprotein present on many cell types. Many CD44 isoforms have been identified. All CD44 isoforms utilize identical transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains. The hematopoietic form of CD44 (CD44H) is the major CD44 protein present on normal human lymphocytes and monocytes. One of the ligands for CD44 is hyaluronic acid (HA), a polymer consisting of repeat units of disaccharide; N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and N-acetyl-D-glucuronic acid. Since HA is present ubiquitously in extracellular matrix and in circulation, promiscuous binding of HA to CD44 may have undesirable affect. Similar to other adhesion molecules, binding of HA to cell surface CD44 requires regulation. In this review, we summarized our studies using a human lymphoma cell line, Jurkat. We found that binding of CD44+ Jurkat transfectants to HA requires cellular activation. Cellular activation induces the reorganization of the cytoskeleton proteins. Reorganization of cytoskeletal proteins results in cluste...

Hyaluronate-independent metastatic behavior of CD44 variant-expressing pancreatic carcinoma cells

Cancer research, 1996

Several studies have demonstrated a correlation between the expression of CD44 variant isoforms and the ability of tumor cells to metastasize. The CD44 proteins carry amino acid sequence motifs that confer the ability to bind to the extracellular matrix component hyaluronate (HA). In this study, we investigated whether a CD44 variant previously shown to stimulate metastasis in a rat pancreatic carcinoma model (BSp73AS) is capable of binding to HA, and whether such binding is critical for metastasis. We show that transfection of this CD44 variant into BSp73AS cells increases the HA-binding capacity of the cells in a dose-dependent manner. Transfection of the same CD44 variant isoform into BDX2 cells also conferred strong HA-binding properties on these cells, but was insufficient to cause them to metastasize. Transfection of a surface-bound hyaluronidase into metastasizing BSp73AS cells bearing variant CD44 efficiently ablated the ability of these cells to bind to HA. However, in meta...

Interaction between CD44 and hyaluronate is directly implicated in the regulation of tumor development

Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1994

CD44 is implicated in the regulation of tumor growth and metastasis but the mechanism by which expression of different CD44 isoforms determines the rate of primary and secondary tumor growth remains unclear. In the present study we use a human melanoma transfected with wild-type and mutant forms of CD44 to determine which functional property of the CD44 molecule is critical in influencing tumor behavior. We show that expression of a wild-type CD44 isoform that binds hyaluronic acid augments the rapidity of tumor formation by melanoma cells in vivo, whereas expression of a CD44 mutant, which does not mediate cell attachment to hyaluronate, fails to do so. The importance of CD44-hyaluronate interaction in tumor development is underscored by the differential inhibitory effect of soluble wild-type and mutant CD44-Ig fusion proteins on melanoma growth in vivo. Whereas local administration of a mutant, nonhyaluronate binding, CD44-Ig fusion protein has no effect on subcutaneous melanoma g...

Tumor Cells Enhance Their Own CD44 Cleavage and Motility by Generating Hyaluronan Fragments

Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2005

Hyaluronan (HA) is an extracellular matrix glycosaminoglycan that interacts with cell-surface receptors, including CD44. Although HA usually exists as a high molecular mass polymer, HA of a much lower molecular mass that shows a variety of biological activities can be detected under certain pathological conditions, particularly in tumors. We previously reported that low molecular weight HAs (LMW-HAs) of a certain size range induce the proteolytic cleavage of CD44 from the surface of tumor cells and promote tumor cell migration in a CD44-dependent manner. Here, we show that MIA PaCa-2, a human pancreatic carcinoma cell line, secreted hyaluronidases abundantly and generated readily detectable levels of LMW-HAs ranging from ϳ10to 40-mers. This occurred in the absence of any exogenous stimulation. The tumor-derived HA oligosaccharides were able to enhance CD44 cleavage and tumor cell motility. Inhibition of the CD44-HA interaction resulted in the complete abrogation of these cellular events. These results are consistent with the concept that tumor cells generate HA oligosaccharides that bind to tumor cell CD44 through the expression of their own constitutive hyaluronidases. This enhances their own CD44 cleavage and cell motility, which would subsequently promote tumor progression. Such an autocrine/paracrine-like process may represent a novel activation mechanism that would facilitate and promote the malignant potential of tumor cells.

Molecular mechanisms regulating the hyaluronan binding activity of the adhesion protein CD44

Journal of Neuro-Oncology, 1995

In the present study, we describe the isolation and characterization of a cDNA clone designated B6F1.3, that appears to 'activate' the hyaluronan-binding capacity of CD44 upon transfection into the murine fibroblastoid cell line MOP8. Sequence analysis indicates that the putative regulatory molecule encoded by this clone is identical to the murine interleukin-2 receptor ? chain (mIL-2Ry), a recently described type i transmembrane protein that constitutes an integral component of the cell surface receptors that bind a number of cytokines including IL-2, IL-4, IL-7, IL-9, IL-15 and perhaps also IL-13. Mutations in this molecule have been shown to be responsible for X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (XSCID) in humans. With the exception of bone marrow, the mIL-2Ry chain was found to be expressed at high levels on all hemopoietic cell lines and tissue types examined. Non-hemopoietic tissues are generally negative. FACS analysis and Western blot analysis indicated respectively that B6F1.3 does not mediate its effects by upregulating the expression of CD44 or by altering the alternative splicing of the molecule. Removal of the cytoplasmic tail of the mIL-2R? chain, including a Src homology region 2 (SH2) subdomain, abolished its ability to enhance CD44-mediated binding to hyaluronan suggesting the involvement of signal transduction events triggered via the cytoplasmic domain in the 'activation' process. Determining whether activating molecules such as B6F1.3 are co-expressed within tumor cells may help improve the potential value of CD44 as a diagnostic marker of metastatic disease.

CD44H regulates tumor cell migration on hyaluronate-coated substrate

Journal of Cell Biology, 1992

CD44 is a broadly distributed cell surface glycoprotein expressed in different isoforms in various tissues and cell lines. One of two recently characterized human isoforms, CD44H, is a cell surface receptor for hyaluronate, suggesting a role in the regulation of cell-cell and cell-substrate interactions as well as of cell migration. While CD44H has been shown to mediate cell adhesion, direct demonstration that CD44H expression promotes cell motility has been lacking. In this work we show that a human melanoma cell line, stably transfected with CD44H, displays enhanced motility on hyaluronate-coated surfaces while transfectants expressing an isoform that does not bind hyaluronate, CD44E, fail to do so. Migration of CD44H-expressing transfectants is observed to be blocked by a soluble CD44-immunoglobulin fusion protein as well as by anti-CD44 antibody, and to depend on the presence of the cytoplasmic domain of CD44. However, cells expressing CD44H cytoplasmic deletion mutants retain s...

CD44s Assembles Hyaluronan Coat on Filopodia and Extracellular Vesicles and Induces Tumorigenicity of MKN74 Gastric Carcinoma Cells

Cells

CD44 is a multifunctional adhesion molecule typically upregulated in malignant, inflamed and injured tissues. Due to its ability to bind multiple ligands present in the tumor microenvironment, it promotes multiple cellular functions related to tumorigenesis. Recent data has shown that CD44 and its principal ligand hyaluronan (HA) are carried by extracellular vesicles (EV) derived from stem and tumor cells, but the role of CD44 in EV shedding has not been studied so far. To answer this question, we utilized CD44-negative human gastric carcinoma cell line MKN74 manipulated to stably express CD44 standard form (CD44s). The effect of CD44s expression on HA metabolism, EV secretion, morphology and growth of these cells was studied. Interestingly, HAS2 and HYAL2 expression levels were significantly upregulated in CD44s-expressing cells. Cell-associated HA levels were significantly increased, while HA levels in the culture medium of CD44s-positive cells was lower compared to CD44s-negative...

Identification of CD44 Residues Important for Hyaluronan Binding and Delineation of the Binding Site

Journal of Biological Chemistry, 1998

CD44 is a widely distributed cell surface protein that plays a role in cell adhesion and migration. As a proteoglycan, CD44 is also implicated in growth factor and chemokine binding and presentation. The extracellular region of CD44 is variably spliced, giving rise to multiple CD44 isoforms. All isoforms contain an amino-terminal domain, which is homologous to cartilage link proteins. The cartilage link protein-like domain of CD44 is important for hyaluronan binding. The structure of the link protein domain of TSG-6 has been determined by NMR. Based on this structure, a molecular model of the linkhomologous region of CD44 was constructed. This model was used to select residues for site-specific mutagenesis in an effort to identify residues important for ligand binding and to outline the hyaluronan binding site. Twentyfour point mutants were generated and characterized, and eight residues were identified as critical for binding or to support the interaction. In the model, these residues form a coherent surface the location of which approximately corresponds to the carbohydrate binding sites in two functionally unrelated calcium-dependent lectins, mannose-binding protein and E-selectin (CD62E).