The urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor is not required for skeletal muscle inflammation or regeneration

2007 ◽  
Vol 293 (3) ◽  
pp. R1152-R1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott C. Bryer ◽  
Timothy J. Koh

The hypothesis of this study was the urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) is required for accumulation of inflammatory cells in injured skeletal muscle and for efficient muscle regeneration. Expression of uPAR was elevated at 1 and 3 days after cardiotoxin-induced muscle injury in wild-type mice before returning to baseline levels. Neutrophil accumulation peaked 1 day postinjury in muscle from both wild-type (WT) and uPAR null mice, while macrophage accumulation peaked between 3 and 5 days postinjury, with no differences between strains. Histological analyses confirmed efficient muscle regeneration in both wild-type and uPAR null mice, with no difference between strains in the formation or growth of regenerating fibers, or recovery of normal morphology. Furthermore, in vitro experiments demonstrated that chemotaxis is not different between WT and uPAR null macrophages. Finally, fusion of cultured satellite cells into multinucleated myotubes was not different between cells isolated from WT and uPAR null mice. These results demonstrate that uPAR is not required for the accumulation of inflammatory cells or the regeneration of skeletal muscle following injury, suggesting uPA can act independently of uPAR to regulate events critical for muscle regeneration.

Blood ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 97 (6) ◽  
pp. 1703-1711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederic Lluı́s ◽  
Josep Roma ◽  
Mònica Suelves ◽  
Maribel Parra ◽  
Gloria Aniorte ◽  
...  

Plasminogen activators urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) are extracellular proteases involved in various tissue remodeling processes. A requirement for uPA activity in skeletal myogenesis was recently demonstrated in vitro. The role of plasminogen activators in skeletal muscle regeneration in vivo in wild-type, uPA-deficient, and tPA-deficient mice is investigated here. Wild-type and tPA−/− mice completely repaired experimentally damaged skeletal muscle. In contrast, uPA−/− mice had a severe regeneration defect, with decreased recruitment of blood-derived monocytes to the site of injury and with persistent myotube degeneration. In addition, uPA-deficient mice accumulated fibrin in the degenerating muscle fibers; however, the defibrinogenation of uPA-deficient mice resulted in a correction of the muscle regeneration defect. A similar severe regeneration deficit with persistent fibrin deposition was also reproducible in plasminogen-deficient mice after injury, suggesting that fibrinolysis by uPA-mediated plasminogen activation plays a fundamental role in skeletal muscle regeneration. In conclusion, the uPA-plasmin system is identified as a critical component of the mammalian skeletal muscle regeneration process, possibly because it prevents intramuscular fibrin accumulation and contributes to the adequate inflammatory response after injury. These studies demonstrate the requirement of an extracellular proteolytic cascade during muscle regeneration in vivo.


2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (12) ◽  
pp. 1124-1132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Matsuno ◽  
Eri Kawashita ◽  
Kiyotaka Okada ◽  
Hidetaka Suga ◽  
Shigeru Ueshima ◽  
...  

SummaryUrokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) plays a role in cellular responses which include cellular adhesion, differentiation, proliferation and migration. The aim of this study was to clarify the role of uPAR on the development of adipose tissue. To clarify the role of uPAR on adipogenesis, we examined the effect of uPAR overexpression and uPAR deficiency on the adipocyte differentiation. Adipocyte differentiation was induced by incubation of 3T3-L1 cells with differentiation media containing insulin, dexamethasone, and 1-methyl-3-isobutylxanthin. uPAR overexpression by transfection of uPAR expression vector induced adipocyte differentiation. In addition, we examined the difference in adipocyte differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells from wild-type mice and uPAR knockout (uPAR-/-) mice. The uPAR deficiency attenuated differentiation media-induced adipocyte differentiation. Moreover, we found that the inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway attenuated uPAR overexpression-induced adipocyte differentiation, and uPAR overexpression induced the activation of Akt. We also found that an increase of the adipose tissue mass in uPAR-/- mice was less than that observed in wild-type mice. The present results suggest that uPAR plays a pivotal role in the development of adipose tissue through PI3K/Akt pathway.


Blood ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 114 (24) ◽  
pp. 5052-5061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas H. Sisson ◽  
Mai-Huong Nguyen ◽  
Bi Yu ◽  
Margaret L. Novak ◽  
Richard H. Simon ◽  
...  

Abstract The plasminogen system plays a crucial role in the repair of a variety of tissues, including skeletal muscle. We hypothesized that urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) promotes muscle regeneration by activating hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), which, in turn, stimulates proliferation of myoblasts required for regeneration. In our studies, levels of active HGF and phosphorylation of the HGF receptor c-met were increased after muscle injury in wild-type mice. Compared with wild-type animals, mice deficient in uPA (uPA−/−) had markedly reduced HGF levels and c-met activation after muscle damage. This reduced HGF activity in uPA−/− animals was associated with decreased cell proliferation, myoblast accumulation, and new muscle fiber formation. On the other hand, HGF activity was enhanced at early time points in PAI-1−/− mice compared with wild-type mice and the PAI-1−/− animals exhibited accelerated muscle fiber regeneration. Furthermore, administration of exogenous uPA rescued HGF levels and muscle regeneration in uPA−/− mice, and an HGF-blocking antibody reduced HGF activity and muscle regeneration in wild-type mice. We also found that uPA promotes myoblast proliferation in vitro through its proteolytic activity, and this process was inhibited by an HGF-blocking antibody. Together, our findings demonstrate that uPA promotes muscle regeneration through HGF activation and subsequent myoblast proliferation.


Blood ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 99 (8) ◽  
pp. 2835-2844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mònica Suelves ◽  
Roser López-Alemany ◽  
Frederic Lluı́s ◽  
Gloria Aniorte ◽  
Erika Serrano ◽  
...  

Abstract Plasmin, the primary fibrinolytic enzyme, has a broad substrate spectrum and is implicated in biologic processes dependent upon proteolytic activity, such as tissue remodeling and cell migration. Active plasmin is generated from proteolytic cleavage of the zymogen plasminogen (Plg) by urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA). Here, we have investigated the role of plasmin in C2C12 myoblast fusion and differentiation in vitro, as well as in skeletal muscle regeneration in vivo, in wild-type and Plg-deficient mice. Wild-type mice completely repaired experimentally damaged skeletal muscle. In contrast, Plg−/− mice presented a severe regeneration defect with decreased recruitment of blood-derived monocytes and lymphocytes to the site of injury and persistent myotube degeneration. In addition, Plg-deficient mice accumulated fibrin in the degenerating muscle fibers; however, fibrinogen depletion of Plg-deficient mice resulted in a correction of the muscular regeneration defect. Because we found that uPA, but not tPA, was induced in skeletal muscle regeneration, and persistent fibrin deposition was also reproducible in uPA-deficient mice following injury, we propose that fibrinolysis by uPA-dependent plasmin activity plays a fundamental role in skeletal muscle regeneration. In summary, we identify plasmin as a critical component of the mammalian skeletal muscle regeneration process, possibly by preventing intramuscular fibrin accumulation and by contributing to the adequate inflammatory response after injury. Finally, we found that inhibition of plasmin activity with α2-antiplasmin resulted in decreased myoblast fusion and differentiation in vitro. Altogether, these studies demonstrate the requirement of plasmin during myogenesis in vitro and muscle regeneration in vivo.


2005 ◽  
Vol 280 (23) ◽  
pp. 21882-21892 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sajani S. Lakka ◽  
Christopher S. Gondi ◽  
Dzung H. Dinh ◽  
William C. Olivero ◽  
Meena Gujrati ◽  
...  

We have previously demonstrated the effectiveness of adenovirus-mediated expression of antisense urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in inhibiting tumor invasion in vitro and ex vivo. However, the therapeutic effect of the adenovirus-mediated antisense approach was shown to be transient and required potentially toxic, high viral doses. In contrast, RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated gene targeting may be superior to the traditional antisense approach, because the target mRNA is completely degraded and the molar ratio of siRNA required to degrade the target mRNA is very low. Here, we have examined the siRNA-mediated target RNA degradation of uPAR and MMP-9 in human glioma cell lines. Using RNAi directed toward uPAR and MMP-9, we achieved specific inhibition of uPAR and MMP-9. This bicistronic construct (pUM) inhibited the formation of capillary-like structures in both in vitro and in vivo models of angiogenesis. We demonstrated that blocking the expression of these genes results in significant inhibition of glioma tumor invasion in Matrigel and spheroid invasion assay models. RNAi for uPAR and MMP-9 inhibited cell proliferation, and significantly reduced the levels of phosphorylated forms of MAPK, ERK, and AKT signaling pathway molecules when compared with parental and empty vector/scrambled vector-transfected SNB19 cells. Furthermore, using RNAi to simultaneously target two proteases resulted in total regression of pre-established intracerebral tumor growth. Our results provide evidence that the use of hairpin siRNA expression vectors for uPAR and MMP-9 may provide an effective tool for cancer therapy.


2009 ◽  
Vol 102 (12) ◽  
pp. 1212-1218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xufang Bai ◽  
Jeffrey Weitz ◽  
Peter Gross

SummaryFibrin is an integral component of arterial thrombi. Using a mouse model of arteriolar thrombosis, high-speed fluorescence microscopy reveals that, within minutes, the fibrin content of thrombi rapidly increases and then decreases.The decrease in fibrin coincides with leukocyte binding to the thrombi, a process mediated by the interaction of leukocyte P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 (PSGL-1) with P-selectin on the surface of activated platelets. Because leukocytes possess urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) activity,we used mice deficient in uPA or the uPA receptor (uPAR) to explore the contribution of leukocyte associated uPA to the loss of fibrin from these thrombi. Fibrin loss in both uPA-deficient mice and uPAR-deficient mice was reduced compared with that in wild-type controls.Transfusion of leukocytes from wild-type mice into uPAR-deficient mice restored fibrin loss to levels similar to that in wild-type mice. In contrast, transfusion of leukocytes from mice deficient in uPAR or PSGL-1 did not enhance fibrin loss. Thus, fibrin loss from microarteriolar thrombi is mediated, at least in part, by leukocyte-associated uPA in a process that requires leukocyte uPAR and PSGL-1.


2011 ◽  
Vol 187 (3) ◽  
pp. 1448-1457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret L. Novak ◽  
Scott C. Bryer ◽  
Ming Cheng ◽  
Mai-Huong Nguyen ◽  
Kevin L. Conley ◽  
...  

2007 ◽  
Vol 293 (4) ◽  
pp. C1278-C1285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana M. DiPasquale ◽  
Ming Cheng ◽  
William Billich ◽  
Sharon A. Huang ◽  
Nico van Rooijen ◽  
...  

Adult skeletal muscle possesses remarkable potential for growth in response to mechanical loading; however, many of the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved remain undefined. The hypothesis of this study was that the extracellular serine protease, urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), is required for muscle hypertrophy, in part by promoting macrophage accumulation in muscle subjected to increased mechanical loading. Compensatory muscle hypertrophy was induced in mouse plantaris (PLT) muscles by surgical ablation of synergist muscles. Following synergist ablation, PLT muscles in wild-type mice demonstrated edema and infiltration of neutrophils and macrophages but an absence of overt muscle fiber damage. Sham procedures resulted in no edema or accumulation of inflammatory cells. In addition, synergist ablation was associated with a large increase in activity of uPA in the PLT muscle. uPA-null mice demonstrated complete abrogation of compensatory hypertrophy associated with reduced macrophage accumulation, indicating that uPA is required for hypertrophy. Macrophages isolated from wild-type PLT muscle during compensatory hypertrophy expressed uPA and IGF-I, both of which may contribute to hypertrophy. To determine whether macrophages are required for muscle hypertrophy, clodronate liposomes were administered to deplete macrophages in wild-type mice; this resulted in reduced muscle hypertrophy. Decreased macrophage accumulation was associated with reduced cell proliferation but did not alter signaling through the mammalian target of rapamycin pathway. These data indicate that uPA and macrophages are required for muscle hypertrophy following synergist ablation.


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