scholarly journals Role of the latent TGF-beta binding protein in the activation of latent TGF-beta by co-cultures of endothelial and smooth muscle cells.

1993 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 995-1002 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Flaumenhaft ◽  
M Abe ◽  
Y Sato ◽  
K Miyazono ◽  
J Harpel ◽  
...  

Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) is released from cells in a latent form consisting of the mature growth factor associated with an aminoterminal propeptide and latent TGF-beta binding protein (LTBP). The endogenous activation of latent TGF-beta has been described in co-cultures of endothelial and smooth muscle cells. However, the mechanism of this activation remains unknown. Antibodies to native platelet LTBP and to a peptide fragment of LTBP inhibit in a dose-dependent manner the activation of latent TGF-beta normally observed when endothelial cells are cocultured with smooth muscle cells. Inhibition of latent TGF-beta activation was also observed when cells were co-cultured in the presence of an excess of free LTBP. These data represent the first demonstration of a function for the LTBP in the extracellular regulation of TGF-beta activity and indicate that LTBP participates in the activation of latent TGF-beta, perhaps by concentrating the latent growth factor on the cell surface where activation occurs.

1989 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 309-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Sato ◽  
D B Rifkin

When a confluent monolayer of bovine aortic endothelial (BAE) cells is wounded with a razor blade, endothelial cells (ECs) spontaneously move into the denuded area. If bovine pericytes or smooth muscle cells (SMCs) are plated into the denuded area at low density, they block the movement of the ECs. This effect is dependent upon the number of cells plated into the wound area and contact between ECs and the plated cells. Antibodies to transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) abrogate the inhibition of BAE cell movement by pericytes or SMCs. TGF-beta 1, if added to wounded BAE cell monolayers, also inhibits cell movement. When cultured separately, BAE cells, pericytes, and SMCs each produce an inactive TGF-beta 1-like molecule which is activated in BAE cell-pericyte or BAE cell-SMC co-cultures. The activation appears to be mediated by plasmin as the inhibitory effect on cell movement in co-cultures of BAE cells and pericytes is blocked by the inclusion of inhibitors of plasmin in the culture medium.


1993 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
T A McCaffrey ◽  
D J Falcone

Previous studies have indicated that aged animals show an increased intimal hyperplasia after arterial injury. The present studies examined the hypothesis that the increased serum-free proliferation of aged smooth muscle cells (SMC), in vitro, was due to a loss of an antiproliferative signal, such as transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1). Northern blot analysis of the mRNA derived from old (> 19 mo) or young (3-4 mo) rat aortic SMC indicated that both groups had an equivalent level of the 2.5 kB TGF-beta 1 message. Metabolic labeling with 35S-methionine and immunoprecipitation for TGF-beta 1 confirmed the de novo synthesis of TGF-beta 1 in rat SMC. Old and young SMC supernatants showed equal levels of active or latent (acid-activated) TGF-beta activity. Despite the similarities in the production of TGF-beta 1, old SMC were refractory to inhibition by TGF-beta 1, whereas young SMC were markedly inhibited (80%) by low levels of TGF-beta 1 (IC50 < 5 pg/ml). Binding studies at 4 degrees C indicated that old SMC exhibited reduced binding capacity for 125I-TGF-beta 1. Cross-linking studies confirmed that old SMC showed reduced binding of 125I-TGF-beta 1 to membrane sites corresponding to the high molecular weight type III receptor, as well as the 85-kDa type II and 65-kDa type I receptor. However, at 37 degrees C, old SMC degraded 125I-TGF-beta 1 more rapidly than young SMC. Combined, this data suggests that SMC derived from older animals are capable of normal production of TGF-beta 1 but fail to respond to the autocrine growth inhibitory effects of this agent, thereby leading to enhanced proliferation.


1988 ◽  
Vol 107 (2) ◽  
pp. 771-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
G K Owens ◽  
A A Geisterfer ◽  
Y W Yang ◽  
A Komoriya

We have explored the hypothesis that hypertrophy of vascular smooth muscle cells may be regulated, in part, by growth inhibitory factors that alter the pattern of the growth response to serum mitogens by characterizing the effects of the potent growth inhibitor, transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), on both hyperplastic and hypertrophic growth of cultured rat aortic smooth muscle cells. TGF-beta inhibited serum-induced proliferation of rat aortic smooth muscle cells (ED50 = 2 pM); this is consistent with previously reported observations in bovine aortic smooth muscle cells (Assoian et al. 1982. J. Biol. Chem. 258:7155-7160). Growth inhibition was due in part to a greater than twofold increase in the cell cycle transit time in cells that continued to proliferate in the presence of TGF-beta. TGF-beta concurrently induced cellular hypertrophy as assessed by flow cytometric analysis of cellular protein content (47% increase) and forward angle light scatter (32-50% increase), an index of cell size. In addition to being time and concentration dependent, this hypertrophy was reversible. Simultaneous flow cytometric evaluation of forward angle light scatter and cellular DNA content demonstrated that TGF-beta-induced hypertrophy was not dependent on withdrawal of cells from the cell cycle nor was it dependent on growth arrest of cells at a particular point in the cell cycle in that both cycling cells in the G2 phase of the cell cycle and those in G1 were hypertrophied with respect to the corresponding cells in vehicle-treated controls. Chronic treatment with TGF-beta (100 pM, 9 d) was associated with accumulation of cells in the G2 phase of the cell cycle in the virtual absence of cells in S phase, whereas subsequent removal of TGF-beta from these cultures was associated with the appearance of a significant fraction of cycling cells with greater than 4c DNA content, consistent with development of tetraploidy. Results of these studies support a role for TGF-beta in the control of smooth muscle cell growth and suggest that at least one mechanism whereby hypertrophy and hyperploidy may occur in this, as well as other cell types, is by alterations in the response to serum mitogens by potent growth inhibitors such as TGF-beta.


1993 ◽  
Vol 264 (1) ◽  
pp. L36-L42 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. M. Denholm ◽  
S. M. Rollins

Bleomycin-induced fibrosis in rodents has been used extensively as a model of human pulmonary fibrosis. The influx of monocytes observed during the early stages of fibrosis is at least partially regulated by the elaboration of chemotactic factors in the lung. Exposure of alveolar macrophages (AM phi) to bleomycin either in vivo or in vitro stimulated secretion of monocyte chemotactic activity (MCA). This MCA has been previously characterized as being primarily due to fibronectin fragments. The present experiments revealed that bleomycin also induced AM phi to secrete a second chemotactic factor, transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta). However, the TGF-beta secreted by macrophages was in latent form, since no TGF-beta activity was detected unless AM phi conditioned medium (CM) was acid-activated. After acidification, chemotactic activity in CM from AM phi stimulated with bleomycin in vitro was increased by 3.6, whereas activity in AM phi CM from fibrotic rats increased by 2 and that of a bleomycin-stimulated AM phi cell line increased by 1.6. This acid-activatable chemotactic activity was inhibited by antibody to TGF-beta. Bleomycin-stimulated AM phi s secreted significantly more TGF-beta than did unstimulated controls. Further, in vitro exposure of AM phi to bleomycin induced TGF-beta mRNA expression in a time- and concentration-dependent manner, with maximal mRNA being detected following a 16-h incubation with 1 microgram/ml bleomycin.


1997 ◽  
Vol 272 (6) ◽  
pp. C1836-C1843 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. L. Tharaux ◽  
A. Stefanski ◽  
S. Ledoux ◽  
J. M. Soleilhac ◽  
R. Ardaillou ◽  
...  

We recently reported that neutral endopeptidase (NEP) expression on renal vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) was downregulated in the presence of serum. Here we examine the role of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta) in this downregulation and the consequences of the changes in NEP activity on their mitogenic effects. EGF inhibited NEP activity, whereas TGF-beta was stimulatory. Expression of the enzyme was studied by measuring the binding of [125I]RB-104, a specific NEP inhibitor, and the fluorescence intensity of NEP-labeled cells. Both parameters were decreased by EGF and were increased by TGF-beta. NEP mRNA expression in EGF-treated cells was reduced after 48 h. In contrast, it was increased in TGF-beta-treated cells. Interestingly, NEP inhibition influenced the mitogenic effect of EGF. Indeed, thiorphan, an NEP inhibitor, and an anti-NEP antibody decreased EGF-dependent [3H]thymidine incorporation and cell proliferation by approximately 50%. TGF-beta had no effect on VSMC growth. These results indicate that EGF but not TGF-beta participates in the downregulatory potency of serum on NEP expression in VSMC. They also demonstrate that the full effect of EGF on VSMC proliferation depends on intact NEP activity.


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