Kinetic and functional analysis of the heparin-binding domain of fibronectin

We have previously shown that the heparin-binding domain of fibronectin (FN-HBD) enhances cell adhesion and proliferation of osteoblasts. Here we demonstrated that FN-HBD binds to heparin with a K_D of 5 μM. Although, FN-HBD itself produces a modest effect on cell adhesion in the absence of central cell-binding domain (CCBD), FN-HBD significantly enhances cell adhesion and spreading activities by a cooperative mechanism of CCBD in MG63 cells (P < 0.05).