Alterations in the Structure, Composition, and Organization of Galactosaminoglycan-Containing Proteoglycans and Collagen Correspond to the Progressive Stages of Dupuytren's Disease.

Dupuytren's disease (DD) is a prevalent fibroproliferative disorder of the hand, shaped by genetic, epigenetic, and environmental influences. The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a complex assembly of diverse macromolecules. Alterations in the ECM's content, structure and organization can impact both normal physiological functions and pathological conditions. This study explored the content and organization of glycosaminoglycans, proteoglycans, and collagen in the ECM of patients at various stages of DD, assessing their potential as prognostic indicators. This research reveals, for the first time, relevant changes in the complexity of chondroitin/dermatan sulfate structures, specifically an increase of disaccharides containing iduronic acid residues covalently linked to either N-acetylgalactosamine 6-O-sulfated or N-acetylgalactosamine 4-O-sulfated, correlating with the disease's severity. Additionally, we noted an increase in versican expression, a high molecular weight proteoglycan, across stages I to IV, while decorin, a small leucine-rich proteoglycan, significantly diminishes as DD progresses, both confirmed by mRNA analysis and protein detection via confocal microscopy. Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy further demonstrated that collagen fibril architecture in DD varies importantly with disease stages. Moreover, the urinary excretion of both hyaluronic and sulfated glycosaminoglycans markedly decreased among DD patients.Our findings indicate that specific proteoglycans with galactosaminoglycan chains and collagen arrangements could serve as biomarkers for DD progression. The reduction in glycosaminoglycan excretion suggests a systemic manifestation of the disease.

Expression of VCAN and its receptors in canine mammary carcinomas with or without myoepithelial proliferation.

The proteoglycan versican (VCAN) plays a complex role in cancer. The expression of this molecule has been related to invasion and progression in malignant mixed tumors, such as carcinoma in mixed tumors (CMT) of the canine mammary gland. In addition, its interaction with surface cell receptors EGFR, HER-2 and CD44 in malignant epithelial cells may be responsible for proliferation and cellular motility in early stages of cancer. We comparatively evaluated the expression of this proteoglycan and its receptors in in situ and invasive areas of simple carcinomas (SC) and CMT to investigate similarities and differences between these histological types. Immunohistochemistry was performed with anti-VCAN, anti-CD44, anti-EGFR and anti-HER-2 antibodies in 32 cases of SC or CMT. VCAN was highly expressed in stroma adjacent to invasive areas in SC and CMT. CMTs presented comparatively higher expression of VCAN in stroma adjacent to in situ and in invasive areas than in corresponding areas in SCs. In CMT, EGFR and HER-2 expressions were higher in situ compared to invasive areas. In contrast, increased CD44 and EGFR expression was found in invasive areas in SC compared to CMT. These results indicate that versican expression is similarly associated with invasiveness in SC and CMT, however higher levels were seen in CMT suggesting that the presence of myoepithelial proliferation in this tumor type participates in stromal composition and promoting an increase in the expression of versican.

Versican and Tumor-Associated Macrophages Promotes Tumor Progression and Metastasis in Canine and Murine Models of Breast Carcinoma.

Versican and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are involved in growth and metastases in several cancers. Here, we investigated the potential role of versican, a matrix proteoglycan, and its correlation with TAMs infiltrates in different stages of two different breast cancer models: spontaneous canine mammary gland carcinomas and the murine 4T1 breast cancer model. The stromal versican expression was correlated with TAMs accumulation in tumors with an advanced stage from spontaneous canine mammary carcinoma samples. Versican expression in mice, identified in late stages of tumor progression, was associated to a high number of peri-tumoral infiltrating TAMs. Indeed, TAMs were related to a pro-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic state in the primary tumor. Furthermore, TAMs accumulation was related to versican expression in the lungs and an increased number of pulmonary metastatic nodules with pulmonary mechanical dysfunction, which was due to leukocyte influx in the airways and elevated growth factor levels in the microenvironment. Thus, we suggest that versican and TAMs as attractive targets for breast cancer therapy.

Versican silencing in BeWo cells and its implication in gestational trophoblastic diseases.

Versican is a proteoglycan known to interact with cells to influence their ability to proliferate, differentiate, migrate, invade and assemble extracellular matrix, with all of these cell functions present during placentation. In the placenta, cytotrophoblast cells have the ability to differentiate into the syncytiotrophoblast, a mechanism that is greatly increased in gestational trophoblastic diseases (GTD). Nevertheless, the molecular signaling underlying the increased syncytiotrophoblast differentiation are still being unveiled and may result in novel therapeutic targets for GTD. Versican expression was investigated to establish its differential expression among GTD (partial moles, complete moles, invasive moles and choriocarcinoma) and the possible functional outcomes from versican gene silencing. Tissue samples had their versican expression evaluated using immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. BeWo cells were employed for versican silencing with siRNA and the efficiency was confirmed by RT-PCR, immunofluorescence and flow cytometry. Cell death and forskolin-induced syncytialization were analyzed by a morphological analysis and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) production using immunofluorescence. Versican V0 and V1 isoforms were mainly expressed in the syncytiotrophoblast and they were the most expressed in benign rather than in malignant tumors. BeWo cells also expressed V0 and V1 isoforms, but only in cells undergoing syncytial fusion. After versican silencing, cell death was greatly increased, whereas spontaneous and forskolin-induced syncytialization decreased as well as hCG production. Versican is differentially expressed in GTD and is important for hydatidiform moles pathophysiology, protecting trophoblast cells from death and playing a role in their differentiation and functionality.

Proteoglycans as potential biomarkers in odontogenic tumors.

Proteoglycans (PGs) are essential for normal cellular development; however, alterations of their concentrations can promote tumor growth. To date, a limited number of studies report the presence of PGs in odontogenic tumors (OTs); therefore, the main purpose of this work is to gather the information published on the study of PGs. The search reported 26 articles referring to the presence of different PGs in distinct OTs from 1999 to May 2017. PGs seem to play an important role during OTs' development as they are involved in several tumor processes; however, the number of reports on the study of these molecules is low. Thus, more studies are necessary in order to gain a better understanding of the underlying pathophysiology of OTs.

Versican expression in myoepithelial cells from carcinomas in canine mixed mammary tumors.

The matrix of canine mixed mammary tumors (CMMTs) consists of proliferating spindle cells of possible myoepithelial origin, as well as myxomatous tissue, cartilage matrix and/or bone. Among the multiple components of this tumor extracellular matrix, versican probably plays a prominent role due to its importance in tumor progression, cell proliferation and differentiation. However, there are few data related to a possible association between versican expression and the state of myoepithelial cell differentiation in CMMTs. Using immunohistochemistry and histochemistry, the objective of this study was to evaluate the expression of versican, sulfated proteoglycans and mucopolysaccharides in myoepithelial cells at different stages of differentiation and to explore a potential relationship with p63 and α-smooth muscle actin (SMA) expression. A significant difference in versican expression was observed among the different stages of myoepithelial cell differentiation with an inverse correlation between versican and p63/SMA expression. These results suggest that at an early stage of proliferation, myoepithelial cells acquire a phenotype consistent with a role in chondrogenesis. Moreover, myoepithelial cells showed an affinity for safranin and periodic acid-Schiff staining at different stages of proliferation supporting the myoepithelial origin of spindle cells from CMMTs.

Influencia de componentes de la matriz extracelular en la agresividad y potencial invasor del cáncer cérvicouterino: ¿Qué hay de nuevo? / Influence of extracellular matrix components in aggressiveness and invasive potential of cervical cancer: What's new?

El cáncer cérvico uterino (CCU) es una patología de alta incidencia y mortalidad. La investigación hasta ahora se ha enfocado en estudiar su asociación con virus papiloma. Sin embargo, el estudio de la matriz extracelular (MEC) ha dado una nueva perspectiva para el estudio de factores inductores o perpetuadores de las neoplasias. En las neoplasias epiteliales como CCU el estroma tumoral presenta una composición dinámica de elementos celulares, destacando la presencia de miofibroblastos positivos a alfa actina de músculo liso (alfa SMA+) y fibrocitos CD34+. La MEC tiene un papel fundamental, ya que no sólo otorga las condiciones apropiadas para el desarrollo del tumor, sino que además condiciona el fenotipo de la población celular del estroma, donde la pérdida de fibrocitos CD34+ asociada a una ganancia de miofibroblastos alfa SMA+ podría ser un indicador muy sensible de invasión estromal, incluso en estadios iniciales. De la misma forma lo hace TGF-beta Ι, ya que su presencia es un reflejo de la síntesis de alfa SMA. Un nuevo elemento es versicán, un proteoglicano cuyas isoformas V0 y V1 se expresan también en tejidos neoplásicos de tumores ováricos, mama y cerebro, entre otros. Desempeña un papel muy importante en los fenómenos de adhesión celular, proliferación, migración y ensamblaje a la MEC. Por lo tanto, el análisis del estroma adyacente a las lesiones epiteliales del cuello uterino puede complementar el conocimiento sobre la conducta biológica de éstas, constituyendo una poderosa herramienta diagnóstica, de forma complementaria a los elementos utilizados hasta ahora.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix (SCC) is a pathology that has high incidence and mortality. So far, research has been focused in the study of its association with papilloma virus. However, knowledge about extracellular matrix (ECM) has given a new perspective for the study of factors that induce or perpetuate neoplasms. In epithelial neoplasms like SCC, the tumoral stroma exhibits a dynamic composition of cellular elements, highlighting the presence of alpha actin of smooth muscle positive myofibroblasts (alpha SMA+) and CD34+ fibrocytes. ECM has an essential role, because it not only provides the appropriate conditions for tumor's development, but also affects stromal cell population phenotype, where a loss of CD34+ fibrocytes associated with a gain of alpha SMA+ myofibroblasts could be a sensitive indicator of stromal invasion, even in early stages. TGF-beta Ι does it in the same way, as its presence is a reflection of the synthesis of alpha SMA+. A new element is versican, a proteoglycan whose V0 and V1 isoforms expression is also observed in neoplastic tissues of ovary, breast and brain tumors, among others. It plays an important role in the phenomena of cellular adhesion, proliferation, migration and assembly of the ECM. Therefore, the analysis of the stroma adjacent to epithelial injuries of the cervix can complement the knowledge about the biological conducts of these, constituting a powerful diagnostic tool, as a complement to the elements used nowadays.