QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online 1 April 2003
doi: 10.1242/jcs.00393

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: jcs.00393v1 116/10/2029    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Oda, R. Articles by Kato, Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Oda, R. Articles by Kato, Y. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Anti-membrane-bound transferrin-like protein antibodies induce cell-shape change and chondrocyte differentiation in the presence or absence of concanavalin A

Ryo Oda^1,*, Ketut Suardita^2,*, Katsumi Fujimoto², Haiou Pan², Weiqun Yan², Atsushi Shimazu³, Hideaki Shintani¹ and Yukio Kato^2,

¹ Department of Operative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan
² Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan
³ Department of Preventive Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan

Author for correspondence (e-mail: ykato{at}hiroshima-u.ac.jp)

Accepted 27 January 2003

Membrane-bound transferrin-like protein (MTf), a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein, is expressed at high levels in many tumors and in several fetal and adult tissues including cartilage and the intestine, as well as in the amyloid plaques of Alzheimer's disease, although its role remains unknown. MTf is one of the major concanavalin A-binding proteins of the cell surface. In this study, we examined the effects of anti-MTf antibodies and concanavalin A on cell shape and gene expression, using cultures of chondrocytes and MTf-overexpressing ATDC5 and C3H10T1/2 cells. In cultures expressing MTf at high levels, concanavalin A induced cell-shape changes from fibroblastic to spherical cells, whereas no cell-shape changes were observed with wild-type ATDC5 or C3H10T1/2 cells expressing MTf at very low levels. The cell-shape changes were associated with enhanced proteoglycan synthesis and expression of cartilage-characteristic genes, including aggrecan and type II collagen. Some anti-MTf antibodies mimicked this action of concanavalin A, whereas other antibodies blocked the lectin action. The findings suggest that the crosslinking of MTf changes the cell shape and induces chondrogenic differentiation. MTf represents the first identification of a plant lectin receptor involved in cell-shape changes and the differentiation of animal cells.

Key words: Chondrocyte, Concanavalin A, GPI-anchored protein, Membrane-bound transferrin-like protein

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?