Collagen-binding integrin alpha11beta1 contributes to joint destruction in arthritic hTNFtg mice

Background: In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) undergo a tumor-like transformation, wherein they develop an aggressive phenotype that is characterized by increased adhesion to components of cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM) and that contributes extensively to joint destruction. The collagen-binding integrin alpha11beta1 was previously shown to be involved in similar processes in cancer-associated fibroblasts mediating tumorigenicity and metastasis in certain tumors. Therefore, this study aimed to study the role of integrin alpha11beta1 in RA and to characterize the effects of alpha11beta1 deficiency on the disease course and severity in arthritic hTNFtg mice. Methods: The expression levels of integrin alpha11beta1 were analyzed by immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and western blot analysis in synovial samples and FLS of patients with RA and osteoarthritis (OA) as well as in samples from wild type (wt) and arthritic hTNFtg mice. Furthermore, the subcellular expression of integrin alpha11beta1 was investigated in co-culture experiments with cartilage explants and analyzed by transmission electron microscopy. To investigate the effects of integrin alpha11beta1 deficiency, itga11-/- mice were interbred with hTNFtg mice and disease severity was assessed by clinical scoring of grip strength and paw swelling over the disease course. Hind paws of 12-weeks-old mice of all genotypes were analyzed by uCT imaging followed by stainings of paraffin-embedded tissue sections with Toluidine-blue and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) to evaluate established parameters of joint destruction such as inflammation area, cartilage destaining, FLS attachment to the cartilage surface, and bone damage. Results: Expression levels of integrin alpha11beta1 were clearly elevated in synovial tissues and FLS from RA patients and hTNFtg mice, compared to the controls derived from OA patients and wt mice. Interestingly, this expression was shown to be particularly localized in focal adhesions of the FLS. As revealed by transmission electron microscopy, integrin alpha11beta1 expression was particularly evident in areas of direct cellular contact with the ECM of cartilage. Evaluations of clinical scorings and histomorphological analyses demonstrated that itga11-/-hTNFtg displayed alleviated clinical symptoms, higher bone volume, less cartilage destruction, and reduced FLS attachment to the cartilage in comparison to hTNFtg mice. Conclusions: The collagen-binding integrin alpha11beta1 is upregulated in the context of RA and its deficiency in mice with an inflammatory hTNFtg background leads to a significant reduction in the arthritic phenotype which makes integrin alpha11beta1 an interesting target for therapeutical intervention.

Calponin 1 contributes to myofibroblast differentiation of human pleural mesothelial cells

Pleural mesothelial cells (PMCs) can become myofibroblasts via mesothelial-mesenchymal transition (MesoMT) and contribute to pleural organization, fibrosis, and rind formation. However, how these transformed mesothelial cells contribute to lung fibrosis remains unclear. Here, we investigated the mechanism of contractile myofibroblast differentiation of PMCs. TGF-b induced marked upregulation of calponin 1 expression, which was correlated with notable cytoskeletal rearrangement in human PMCs (HPMCs) to produce stress fibers. Downregulation of calponin 1 expression reduced stress fiber formation. Interestingly, induced stress fibers predominantly contain αSMA associated with calponin 1 but not b-actin. Calponin 1 associated stress fibers also contained myosin II and α-actinin. Further, focal adhesions were aligned with the produced stress fibers. These results suggest that calponin 1 facilitates formation of stress fibers that resemble contractile myofibrils. Supporting this notion, TGF-b significantly increased the contractile activity of HPMCs, an effect that was abolished by downregulation of calponin 1 expression. We infer that differentiation of HPMCs to contractile myofibroblasts facilitates stiffness of scar tissue in pleura to promote pleural fibrosis and that upregulation of calponin 1 plays a central role in this process.

Cytohesin-2/ARNO: A Novel Bridge Between Cell Migration and Immunoregulation in Synovial Fibroblasts

The guanine nucleotide exchange factor cytohesin-2 (ARNO) is a major activator of the small GTPase ARF6 that has been shown to play an important role(s) in cell adhesion, migration and cytoskeleton reorganization in various cell types and models of disease. Interestingly, dysregulated cell migration, in tandem with hyper-inflammatory responses, is one of the hallmarks associated with activated synovial fibroblasts (SFs) during chronic inflammatory joint diseases, like rheumatoid arthritis. The role of ARNO in this process has previously been unexplored but we hypothesized that the pro-inflammatory milieu of inflamed joints locally induces activation of ARNO-mediated pathways in SFs, promoting an invasive cell phenotype that ultimately leads to bone and cartilage damage. Thus, we used small interference RNA to investigate the impact of ARNO on the pathological migration and inflammatory responses of murine SFs, revealing a fully functional ARNO-ARF6 pathway which can be rapidly activated by IL-1β. Such signalling promotes cell migration and formation of focal adhesions. Unexpectedly, ARNO was also shown to modulate SF-inflammatory responses, dictating their precise cytokine and chemokine expression profile. Our results uncover a novel role for ARNO in SF-dependent inflammation, that potentially links pathogenic migration with initiation of local joint inflammation, offering new approaches for targeting the fibroblast compartment in chronic arthritis and joint disease.

Annexin A6 and NPC1 regulate LDL-inducible cell migration and distribution of focal adhesions

Cholesterol is considered indispensable for cell motility, but how physiological cholesterol pools enable cells to move forward remains to be clarified. The majority of cells obtain cholesterol from the uptake of Low-Density lipoproteins (LDL) and here we demonstrate that LDL stimulates A431 squamous epithelial carcinoma and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell migration and invasion. LDL also potentiated epidermal growth factor (EGF) -stimulated A431 cell migration as well as A431 invasion in 3-dimensional environments, using organotypic assays. Blocking cholesterol export from late endosomes (LE), using Niemann Pick Type C1 (NPC1) mutant cells, pharmacological NPC1 inhibition or overexpression of the annexin A6 (AnxA6) scaffold protein, compromised LDL-inducible migration and invasion. Nevertheless, NPC1 mutant cells established focal adhesions (FA) that contain activated focal adhesion kinase (pY397FAK, pY861FAK), vinculin and paxillin. Compared to controls, NPC1 mutants display increased FA numbers throughout the cell body, but lack LDL-inducible FA formation at cell edges. Strikingly, AnxA6 depletion in NPC1 mutant cells, which restores late endosomal cholesterol export in these cells, increases their cell motility and association of the cholesterol biosensor D4H with active FAK at cell edges, indicating that AnxA6-regulated transport routes contribute to cholesterol delivery to FA structures, thereby improving NPC1 mutant cell migratory behaviour.

Canonical Wnt Signaling Induces Focal Adhesion and Integrin Beta-1 Endocytosis

During canonical Wnt signaling, the Lrp6 and Frizzled co-receptors bind to the Wnt growth factor and the complex is endocytosed and sequestered together with Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 (GSK3), Dishevelled (Dvl), and Axin inside the intraluminal vesicles of late endosomes, known as multivesicular bodies (MVBs). Here we present experiments showing that Wnt causes the endocytosis of focal adhesion (FA) proteins and depletion of Integrin β 1 (ITGβ1) from the cell surface. FAs and integrins link the cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix. Wnt-induced endocytosis caused ITGβ1 depletion from the plasma membrane and was accompanied by striking changes in the actin cytoskeleton. In situ protease protection assays in cultured cells showed that ITGβ1 was sequestered within membrane-bounded organelles that corresponded to Wnt-induced MVBs containing GSK3 and FA-associated proteins. An in vivo model using Xenopus embryos dorsalized by Wnt8 mRNA showed that ITGβ1 depletion decreased Wnt signaling. The finding of a crosstalk between two mayor signaling pathways, canonical Wnt and focal adhesions, should be relevant to human cancer and cell biology.

Free diffusion of PI(4,5)P2 in the plasma membrane in the presence of high density effector protein complexes

The lipid phosphatidyl-D-myo-inositol-4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P2] is a master regulator of plasma membrane (PM) function. It engages effector proteins that regulate diverse traffic, transport, signaling and cytoskeletal processes that define PM structure and function. How a single class of lipid molecules independently regulate so many parallel processes remains an open question. We tested the hypothesis that spatially segregated pools of PI(4,5)P2 are associated with, and thus reserved for regulation of, different functional complexes in the PM. The mobility of PI(4,5)P2 in the membrane was measured using lipid biosensors by single particle tracking photoactivation localization microscopy (sptPALM). We found that PI(4,5)P2, and several other classes of inner PM lipids, diffuse rapidly at approximately 0.3 microns squared per second with largely Brownian motion, although they spend approximately a third of their time diffusing much more slowly. Surprisingly, areas of the PM occupied by PI(4,5)P2-dependent complexes, such endoplasmic-reticulum:PM contact sites, clathrin-coated structures, and several actin cytoskeletal elements including focal adhesions, did not cause a change in PI(4,5)P2 lateral mobility. Only the spectrin and septin cytoskeletons were observed to produce a slowing of PI(4,5)P2 diffusion. We conclude that even structures with high densities of PI(4,5)P2-engaging effector proteins, such as clathrin coated pits and focal adhesions, do not corral free PI(4,5)P2, questioning a role for spatially segregated PI(4,5)P2 pools in organizing and regulating parallel PM functions.

Nascent Adhesion Clustering: Integrin-Integrin and Integrin-Substrate Interactions

Nascent adhesions (NAs) are a general precursor to the formation of focal adhesions (FAs) that provide a fundamental mechanism for cell adhesion that is, in turn, involved in cell proliferation, migration, and mechanotransduction. Nascent adhesions form when cells come into contact with substrates at all rigidities and generally involve the clustering of ligated integrins that may recruit un-ligated integrins. Nascent adhesions tend to take on characteristic sizes in the range of O(100nm–150nm) in diameter and tend to contain integrin numbers of O(20–60). The flexible, adaptable model we present provides and clear explanation of how these conserved cluster features come about. Our model is based on the interaction among ligated and un-ligated integrins that arise due to deformations that are induced in the cell membrane-cell glycocalyx and substrate system due to integrin activation and ligation. This model produces a clearly based interaction potential, and from it an explicit interaction force among integrins, that our stochastic diffusion-interaction simulations then show will produce nascent clusters with experimentally observed characteristics. Our simulations reveal effects of various key parameters related to integrin activation and ligation as well as some unexpected and previously unappreciated effects of parameters including integrin mobility and substrate rigidity. Moreover, the model’s structure is such that refinements are readily incorporated and specific suggestions are made as to what is required for further progress in understanding nascent clustering and the development of mature focal adhesions in a truly predictive manner.

Epigenetic Mechanisms in Parenchymal Lung Diseases: Bystanders or Therapeutic Targets?

Epigenetic responses due to environmental changes alter chromatin structure, which in turn modifies the phenotype, gene expression profile, and activity of each cell type that has a role in the pathophysiology of a disease. Pulmonary diseases are one of the major causes of death in the world, including lung cancer, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary hypertension (PH), lung tuberculosis, pulmonary embolism, and asthma. Several lines of evidence indicate that epigenetic modifications may be one of the main factors to explain the increasing incidence and prevalence of lung diseases including IPF and COPD. Interestingly, isolated fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells from patients with pulmonary diseases such as IPF and PH that were cultured ex vivo maintained the disease phenotype. The cells often show a hyper-proliferative, apoptosis-resistant phenotype with increased expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) and activated focal adhesions suggesting the presence of an epigenetically imprinted phenotype. Moreover, many abnormalities observed in molecular processes in IPF patients are shown to be epigenetically regulated, such as innate immunity, cellular senescence, and apoptotic cell death. DNA methylation, histone modification, and microRNA regulation constitute the most common epigenetic modification mechanisms.

Reply to the ‘Comment on “Tensional homeostasis at different length scales” by J. Humphrey and C. Cyron, Soft Matter, 2022, 18, DOI: 10.1039/D1SM01151K’

In this Reply to the Comment, we discuss data from the literature which show that the idea that tensional homeostasis in focal adhesions (FAs) of living cells exists over “a central range of FAs”, which is promulgated in the Comment, is not tenable.