Insulin promotes shedding of syndecan ectodomains from 3T3-L1 adipocytes: a proposed mechanism for stabilization of extracellular lipoprotein lipase

Syndecans are a family of four transmembrane heparan sulfate proteoglycans that act as coreceptors for a variety of cell-surface ligands and receptors. Receptor activation in several cell types leads to shedding of syndecan-1 and syndecan-4 ectodomains into the extracellular space by metalloproteinase-mediated cleavage of the syndecan core protein. We have found that 3T3-L1 adipocytes express syndecan-1 and syndecan-4 and that their ectodomains are shed in response to insulin in a dose-, time-, and metalloproteinase-dependent manner. Insulin responsive shedding is not seen in 3T3-L1 fibroblasts. This shedding involves both Ras-MAP kinase and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathways. In response to insulin, adipocytes are known to secrete active lipoprotein lipase, an enzyme that binds to heparan sulfate on the luminal surface of capillary endothelia. Lipoprotein lipase is transported as a stable enzyme from its site of synthesis to its site of action, but the transport mechanism is unknown. Our studies indicate that shed adipocyte syndecans associate with lipoprotein lipase. The shed syndecan ectodomain can stabilize active lipoprotein lipase. These data suggest that syndecan ectodomains, shed by adipocytes in response to insulin, are physiological extracellular chaperones for lipoprotein lipase as it translocates from its site of synthesis to its site of action.     

Epithelial-mesenchymal interactions in uterus and vagina alter the expression of the cell surface proteoglycan, syndecan

The cell surface proteoglycan, syndecan, exhibits molecular and histological dimorphism in the mouse uterus and vagina. In the mature vagina, syndecan is localized at the surfaces of the basal and intermediate cells of the stratified epithelium and has a modal molecular mass of ca. 92 kDa. The uterus expresses a larger form of syndecan (ca. 110 kDa) which is detected at the basolateral surfaces of the simple columnar epithelial cells. We have investigated whether epithelial-mesenchymal interactions influence the expression of syndecan in these organs by analyzing tissue recombinants composed of mouse epithelium and rat mesenchyme or vice versa with monoclonal antibody 281-2, which recognizes mouse syndecan. In tissue recombinants composed of newborn mouse uterine epithelium and rat vaginal stroma, the uterine epithelium was induced to form a stratified vaginal epithelium which expressed syndecan in same the pattern and mass typical of vaginal epithelium. Likewise, rat uterine stroma induced newborn mouse vaginal epithelium to undergo uterine development, and this epithelium exhibited a uterine pattern of syndecan expression. Although stromal cells normally express little syndecan in most adult organs, analysis of recombinants composed of mouse stroma and rat epithelium revealed that both uterine and vaginal mouse stromata synthesized syndecan that was larger (ca. 170-190 kDa) than the epithelial syndecans. A quantitative increase in the amount of stromal syndecan was evident when stroma was grown in association with epithelium in comparison to stroma grown by itself. These data suggest that epithelial-mesenchymal interactions influence the amount, localization, and mass of both epithelial and stromal syndecan.     

A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase 17 (ADAM17) Mediates Inflammation-induced Shedding of Syndecan-1 and -4 by Lung Epithelial Cells

Syndecans are cell surface proteoglycans that bind and modulate various proinflammatory mediators and can be proteolytically shed from the cell surface. Within the lung, syndecan-1 and -4 are expressed as transmembrane proteins on epithelial cells and released in the bronchoalveolar fluid during inflammation. We here characterize the mechanism leading to the generation of soluble syndecan-1 and -4 in cultured epithelial cells and murine lung tissue. We show that the bladder carcinoma epithelial cell line ECV304, the lung epithelial cell line A459 and primary alveolar epithelial cells express and constitutively release syndecan-1 and -4. This release involves the activity of the disintegrin-like metalloproteinase ADAM17 as demonstrated by use of specific inhibitors and lentivirally transduced shRNA. Stimulation of epithelial cells with PMA, thrombin, or proinflammatory cytokines (TNFα/IFNγ) led to the down-regulation of surface-expressed syndecan-1 and -4, which was associated with a significant increase of soluble syndecans and cell-associated cleavage fragments. The enhanced syndecan release was not related to gene induction of syndecans or ADAM17, but rather due to increased ADAM17 activity. Soluble syndecan-1 and -4 were also released into the bronchoalveolar fluid of mice. Treatment with TNFα/IFNγ increased ADAM17 activity and syndecan release in murine lungs. Both constitutive and induced syndecan shedding was prevented by the ADAM17 inhibitor. ADAM17 may therefore be an important regulator of syndecan functions on inflamed lung epithelium.     

Trans-regulation of Syndecan Functions by Hetero-oligomerization

Syndecans, a family of transmembrane heparansulfate proteoglycans, are known to interact through their transmembrane domains to form non-covalently linked homodimers, a process essential for their individual functions. Because all syndecan transmembrane domains are highly conserved and thus might mediate interactions between different members of the syndecan family, we investigated syndecan interactions in detail. All recombinant syndecan-2 and -4 protein variants containing the transmembrane domain formed not only sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-resistant homodimers but also SDS-resistant heterodimers. Biochemical and structural data revealed that recombinant syndecan-2 and -4 formed intermolecular interactions in vitro, and the GXXXG motif in transmembrane domain mediated this interaction. When exogenously expressed in rat embryonic fibroblasts, syndecan-2 interacted with syndecan-4 and vice versa. Furthermore, bimolecular fluorescence complementation-based assay demonstrated specific hetero-molecular interactions between syndecan-2 and -4, supporting hetero-oligomer formation of syndecans in vivo. Interestingly, hetero-oligomerization significantly reduced syndecan-4-mediated cellular processes such as protein kinase Cα activation and protein kinase Cα-mediated cell adhesion as well as syndecan-2-mediated tumorigenic activities in colon cancer cells such as migration and anchorage-independent growth. Taken together, these data provide evidence that hetero-oligomerization produces distinct syndecan functions and offer insights into the underlying signaling mechanisms of syndecans.     

Molecular and cellular mechanisms of syndecans in tissue injury and inflammation

The syndecan family of heparan sulfate proteoglycans is expressed on the surface of all adherent cells. Syndecans interact with a wide variety of molecules, including growth factors, cytokines, proteinases, adhesion receptors and extracellular matrix components, through their heparan sulfate chains. Recent studies indicate that these interactions not only regulate key events in development and homeostasis, but also key mechanisms of the host inflammatory response. This review will focus on the molecular and cellular aspects of how syndecans modulate tissue injury and inflammation, and how syndecans affect the outcome of inflammatory diseases in vivo.     

Syndecan, a developmentally regulated cell surface proteoglycan that binds extracellular matrix and growth factors

Cellular behaviour during development is dictated, in part, by the insoluble extracellular matrix and the soluble growth factor peptides, the major molecules responsible for integrating cells into morphologically and functionally defined groups. These extracellular molecules influence cellular behaviour by binding at the cell surface to specific receptors that transduce intracellular signals in various ways not yet fully clear. Syndecan, a cell surface proteoglycan found predominantly on epithelia in mature tissues binds both extracellular matrix components (fibronectin, collagens I, III, V, and thrombospondin) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). Syndecan consists of chondroitin sulfate and heparan sulphate chains linked to a 31 kilodalton (kDa) integral membrane protein. Syndecan represents a family of integral membrane proteoglycans that differ in extracellular domains, but share cytoplasmic domains. Syndecan behaves as a matrix receptor: it binds selectively to components of the extracellular matrix, associates intracellularly with the actin cytoskeleton when cross-linked at the cell surface, its extracellular domain is shed upon cell rounding and it localizes solely to basolateral surfaces of simple epithelia. Mammary epithelial cells made syndecan-deficient become fibroblastic in morphology and cell behaviour, showing that syndecan maintains epithelial cell morphology. Syndecan changes in quantity, location and structure during development: it appears initially on four-cell embryos (prior to its known matrix ligands), becomes restricted in the pre-implementation embryo to the cells that will form the embryo proper, changes its expression due to epithelial-mesenchymal interactions (for example, induced in kidney mesenchyme by the ureteric bud), and with association of cells with extracellular matrix (for example, during B-cell differentiation), and ultimately, in mature tissues becomes restricted to epithelial tissues. The number and size of its glycosaminoglycan chains vary with changes in cell shape and organization yielding tissue type-specific polymorphic forms of syndecan. Its interactions with the major extracellular effector molecules that influence cell behaviour, its role in maintaining cell shape and its spatial and temporal changes in expression during development indicate that syndecan is involved in morphogenesis.     

Identification of a CD20-, FcepsilonRIbeta-, and HTm4-related gene family: sixteen new MS4A family members expressed in human and mouse

CD20, high-affinity IgE receptor beta chain (FcepsilonRIbeta), and HTm4 are structurally related cell-surface proteins expressed by hematopoietic cells. In the current study, 16 novel human and mouse genes that encode new members of this nascent protein family were identified. All family members had at least four potential membrane-spanning domains, with N- and C-terminal cytoplasmic domains. This family was therefore named the membrane-spanning 4A gene family, with at least 12 subgroups (MS4A1 through MS4A12) currently representing at least 21 distinct human and mouse proteins. Each family member had unique patterns of expression among hematopoietic cells and nonlymphoid tissues. Four of the 6 human MS4A genes identified in this study mapped to chromosome 11q12-q13.1 along with CD20, FcepsilonRIbeta, and HTm4. Thus, like CD20 and FcepsilonRIbeta, the other MS4A family members are likely to be components of oligomeric cell surface complexes that serve diverse signal transduction functions.     

The role of syndecans in disease and wound healing.

Syndecans are a family of transmembrane heparan sulfate proteoglycans widely expressed in both developing and adult tissues. Until recently, their role in pathogenesis was largely unexplored. In this review, we discuss the reported involvement of syndecans in human cancers, infectious diseases, obesity, wound healing and angiogenesis. In some cancers, syndecan expression has been shown to regulate tumor cell function (e.g. proliferation, adhesion, and motility) and serve as a prognostic marker for tumor progression and patient survival. The ectodomains and heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycan chains of syndecans can also act as receptors/co-receptors for some bacterial and viral pathogens, mediating infection. In addition, syndecans bind to obesity-related factors and regulate their signaling, in turn modulating food consumption and weight balance. In vivo animal models of tissue injury and in vitro data also implicate syndecans in processes necessary for wound healing, including fibroblast and endothelial proliferation, cell motility, angiogenesis, and extracellular matrix organization. These new insights into the involvement of syndecans in disease and tissue repair coupled with the emergence of syndecan-specific molecular tools may lead to novel therapies for a variety of human diseases.     

Syndecans in cell adhesion and differentiation

Syndecans are transmembrane proteoglycans expressed on adherent cells. They are a family of four proteins, which participate in cell-matrix adhesion, the regulation of growth factors (FGFs, VEGF, HGF) binding and signaling. The extracellular domain of syndecans contains heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate glycosaminoglycan chains. Syndecans have transmembrane region and a short cytoplasmic domain. The cytoplasmic domain attaches activated protein kinase Calpha, phosphatidyl-inositol-4,5-bisphosphate, syntenin, beta-catenin and many others molecules. Syndecans bind numerous ligands, which are present in extracellular matrix: growth factors, enzymes, extracellular matrix molecules (fibronectin, laminin). They form connections with actin cytoskeleton. The changes in syndecan expression influence on cell adhesion and migration, structure of focal contacts and cytoskeleton. Syndecans participate in cell differentiation and tissue regeneration.     

Syndecans in tumor cell adhesion and signaling

Anchorage of cells to "heparin" – binding domains that are prevalent in extracellular matrix (ECM) components is thought to occur primarily through the syndecans, a four-member family of transmembrane heparan sulfate proteoglycans that communicate environmental cues from the ECM to the cytoskeleton and the signaling apparatus of the cell. Known activities of the syndecans trace to their highly conserved cytoplasmic domains and to their heparan sulfate chains, which can serve to regulate the signaling of growth factors and morphogens. However, several emerging studies point to critical roles for the syndecans' extracellular protein domains in tumor cell behavior to include cell adhesion and invasion. Although the mechanisms of these activities remain largely unknown, one possibility involves "co-receptor" interactions with integrins that may regulate integrin function and the cell adhesion-signaling phenotype. Thus, alterations in syndecan expression, leading to either overexpression or loss of expression, both of which take place in tumor cells, may have dramatic effects on tumor cell invasion.     

Shedding of syndecan-1 and -4 ectodomains is regulated by multiple signaling pathways and mediated by a TIMP-3-sensitive metalloproteinase

The syndecan family of four transmembrane heparan sulfate proteoglycans binds a variety of soluble and insoluble extracellular effectors. Syndecan extracellular domains (ectodomains) can be shed intact by proteolytic cleavage of their core proteins, yielding soluble proteoglycans that retain the binding properties of their cell surface precursors. Shedding is accelerated by PMA activation of protein kinase C, and by ligand activation of the thrombin (G-protein-coupled) and EGF (protein tyrosine kinase) receptors (Subramanian, S.V., M.L. Fitzgerald, and M. Bernfield. 1997. J. Biol. Chem. 272:14713-14720). Syndecan-1 and -4 ectodomains are found in acute dermal wound fluids, where they regulate growth factor activity (Kato, M., H. Wang, V. Kainulainen, M.L. Fitzgerald, S. Ledbetter, D.M. Ornitz, and M. Bernfield. 1998. Nat. Med. 4:691-697) and proteolytic balance (Kainulainen, V., H. Wang, C. Schick, and M. Bernfield. 1998. J. Biol. Chem. 273:11563-11569). However, little is known about how syndecan ectodomain shedding is regulated.To elucidate the mechanisms that regulate syndecan shedding, we analyzed several features of the process that sheds the syndecan-1 and -4 ectodomains. We find that shedding accelerated by various physiologic agents involves activation of distinct intracellular signaling pathways; and the proteolytic activity responsible for cleavage of syndecan core proteins, which is associated with the cell surface, can act on unstimulated adjacent cells, and is specifically inhibited by TIMP-3, a matrix-associated metalloproteinase inhibitor. In addition, we find that the syndecan-1 core protein is cleaved on the cell surface at a juxtamembrane site; and the proteolytic activity responsible for accelerated shedding differs from that involved in constitutive shedding of the syndecan ectodomains. These results demonstrate the existence of highly regulated mechanisms that can rapidly convert syndecans from cell surface receptors or coreceptors to soluble heparan sulfate proteoglycan effectors. Because the shed ectodomains are found and function in vivo, regulation of syndecan ectodomain shedding by physiological mediators indicates that shedding is a response to specific developmental and pathophysiological cues.     

Syndecans play dual roles as cell adhesion receptors and docking receptors

Syndecan are a family of cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans that act as cell surface receptors. Most cell surface receptors have a limited number and type of ligand interactions, responding only to the binding of (a) specific ligand(s). In contrast, syndecans can interact with various numbers and types of ligands, and thus play more diverse roles than others. Various syndecan functions have not yet been fully classified and categorized, but we herein review previous studies suggesting that syndecans play dual function as cell surface receptors by acting as both adhesion receptors and docking receptors. Through this dual regulatory function, syndecans are capable of regulating both intra- and extracellular activities, potentially altering a variety of cell behaviors.     

Expression and subcellular localization of Spred proteins in mouse and human tissues

Spred-1 and Spred-2 (Sprouty-related protein with an EVH1 domain) are recently described members of the EVH1 (Ena/VASP-homology domain 1) family. Both Spred-1 and Spred-2 are membrane-associated substrates of receptor tyrosine kinases and they act as negative regulators of the Ras pathway upon growth factor stimulation. Since the Spred family members seem to exert overlapping molecular functions, the isotype-specific function of each member remains enigmatic. To date, no comprehensive expression profiling of Spred proteins has been shown. Therefore, we compared mRNA and protein expression patterns of Spred-1 and Spred-2 systematically in mouse organs. Furthermore, we focused on the tissue-specific expression of Spred-2 in adult human tissues, the subcellular localization, and the potential role of Spred-2 in the organism. Our studies show that expression patterns of Spred-1 and Spred-2 differ markedly among various tissues and cell types. In mouse, Spred-1 and Spred-2 were found to be expressed predominantly in brain, whereas Spred-2 was found to be more widely expressed in various adult tissues than Spred-1. In humans, Spred-2 was found to be strongly expressed in glandular epithelia and, at the subcellular level, its immunoreactivity was associated with secretory vesicles. Using confocal microscopy we found Spred-2 to be strongly colocalized with Rab11 and, to a lesser extent, with Rab5a GTPase, an observation that was not made for Spred-1. We conclude that the two members of the recently discovered Spred protein family, Spred-1 and Spred-2, show a highly specific expression pattern in various tissues reflecting a specific physiological role for the individual Spred isoforms in these tissues. Furthermore, it becomes most likely that Spred-2 is involved in the regulation of secretory pathways.     

Binding of human syndecan to extracellular matrix proteins.

We have isolated a cell surface proteoglycan from a human mammary cell line (HBL-100). This proteoglycan was found to be a human equivalent to mouse syndecan, because (i) it has identical biochemical properties with murine syndecan, including size, charge, buoyant density, and glycosaminoglycan composition, (ii) its core protein has identical size with murine syndecan as studied by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and (iii) the core protein is detected with anti-peptide antibody for the cytoplasmic domain of syndecan. HBL-100 cells also showed high expression of syndecan mRNAs, when probed with mouse syndecan cDNA. The ectodomain of the human syndecan revealed binding to type I collagen fibrils and fibronectin but not to laminin, duplicating the binding properties of murine syndecan. Very interestingly, syndecan did not bind to vitronectin, which is known to contain a heparin binding domain and is one of the major adhesive factors of serum for cultured cells. Syndecans are known to change their glycosaminoglycan composition yielding tissue-type specific polymorphic forms of syndecan (Sanderson, R., and Bernfield, M. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S.A. 85, 9562-9566). The members of this family may thus represent a collection of structurally related matrix receptors that could differ in their interactions due to variation of the ectodomain glycosylation.     

Distinct expression patterns of syndecans in the embryonic zebrafish brain

Axon pathfinding in the neuroepithelium of embryonic brain is dependent on a variety of short and long range guidance cues. Heparan sulfate proteoglycans such as syndecans act as modulators of these cues and their importance in neural development is highlighted by their phylogenetic conservation. In Drosophilia, a single syndecan is present on the surface of axon growth cones and is required for chemorepulsive signalling during midline crossing. Understanding the role of syndecans in the vertebrate nervous system is challenging given that there are four homologous genes, syndecans 1–4. We show here that syndecans 2–4 are expressed in the zebrafish embryonic brain during the major period of axon growth. These genes show differing expression patterns in the brain which provides putative insights into their functional specificity.     

Removal of syndecan-1 promotes TRAIL-induced apoptosis in myeloma cells

Syndecan is the major transmembrane proteoglycan in cells. Of the four syndecans, syndecan-1 is the dominant form expressed in multiple myeloma and is an indicator of poor prognosis. In the current study, we observed that early TRAIL-induced apoptotic processes were accompanied by cleavage of syndecan-1 intracellular region, and explored the possibility whether removal of syndecan-1 promotes apoptotic processes. We found that syndecan-1 knockdown by specific small interfering RNA in multiple myeloma enhanced TRAIL-induced apoptosis, even though the expression of TRAIL receptors and several apoptosis-associated molecules was unaffected. The enhanced TRAIL-mediated apoptosis in syndecan-1-deficient cells was not due to a decrease in surface heparan sulfate or a reduction in TRAIL receptor endocytosis. The increase in TRAIL-induced cell death was accompanied by an elevated caspase-8 activation and an enhanced formation of death-inducing signaling complexes, which could be attributed to an increased expression of TRAIL receptor O-glycosylation enzyme in syndecan-1-deficient cells. We also found that in H9 lymphoma and Jurkat cells, knockdown of the predominant syndecan member also led to an increase in Fas ligand-induced apoptosis. Our results demonstrate that syndecan plays a negative role in death receptor-mediated cell death, suggesting potential application of syndecan downregulation in the treatment of myeloma in combination with TRAIL.