Identification of laminin α5 short arm peptides active for endothelial cell attachment and tube formation.

Laminin-511, a major component of endothelial basement membrane, consists of α5, ß1, and γ1 chains. The short arm region of the α5 chain is a structural feature of endothelial laminins. In this study, we identified active sequences for human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) using recombinant proteins and synthetic peptides. The short arm of the α5 chain contains three globular domains [laminin N-terminal globular domain, laminin 4 domain a, and laminin 4 domain b (LN, L4a, and L4b)] and three rod-like elements [laminin epidermal growth factor-like domain a, b, and c (LEa, LEb, and LEc)]. The cell attachment assay using recombinant proteins showed that RGD-independent cell attachment sites were localized in the α5LN-LEa domain. Further, we synthesized 70 peptides covering the amino acid sequences of the α5LN-LEa domain. Of the 70 peptides, A5-16 (mouse laminin α5 230-243: LENGEIVVSLVNGR) potently exhibited endothelial cell attachment activity. An active sequence analysis using N-terminally and C-terminally truncated A5-16 peptides showed that the nine-amino acid sequence IVVSLVNGR was critical for the endothelial cell attachment activity. Cell adhesion to the peptides was dependent on both cations and heparan sulfate. Further, the A5-16 peptide inhibited the capillary-like tube formation of HUVECs with the cells forming small clumps with short tubes. The eight-amino acid sequence EIVVSLVN in the A5-16 peptide was critical to inhibit HUVEC tube formation. This amino acid sequence could be useful for grafts and thus modulate endothelial cell behavior for vascular surgery. Copyright © 2017 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Down-regulation of cell adhesion via rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) pathway promotes tumor cell migration on laminin-511.

Epithelial cells, both normal and precancerous, stably anchor to basement membranes, whereas malignant tumors pass through them to achieve metastasis. Of basement membrane components, laminin-511 (α5, ß1, γ1; LM-511) has been found to be a major isoform in many adult basement membranes. Several studies have shown that LM-511 promotes not only cell adhesion but also tumor cell migration. Thus, LM-511 can be viewed like two distinct molecules in normal vs. tumor cells; tumor cells seem to be able to alter their response (adhesive vs. migratory) to LM-511. In this study we examined the effects of biologically active molecules on A549 lung adenocarcinoma cell adhesion to LM-511. Of them, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) induced transition to a rounded cell shape and significantly promoted cell migration on LM-511. The attachment of PMA-treated A549 cells to LM-511 was weaker than that of control cells. PMA-stimulated signaling pathway reduced the binding of integrin α3ß1 to LM-511. Cell migration assays using inhibitors for signal transduction and cytoskeletal organization showed that suppression of cell adhesion via the rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) pathway promoted tumor cell migration on LM-511. Our results suggest that the ROCK pathway is involved in the transition from static to migratory cell behaviors on LM-511.