The BMP-2 mutant L51P: a BMP receptor IA binding-deficient inhibitor of noggin.

The antagonist-specific regulation in tissue engineering constitutes important attempts to achieve an improved and rapid bone regeneration by controlling the natural biological response of the natural body growth factors. L51P is molecularly engineered bone morphogentic protein-2 (BMP-2) variant with a substitution of the 51st leucine with a proline residue. L51P is deficient in BMP receptor binding, but maintains its structure and affinity for inhibitory proteins such as noggin, chordin, and gremlin. These modifications convert the BMP-2 variant L51P into a receptor-inactive inhibitor of BMP antagonists. This current approach may prevent the uncontrolled bone overgrowth using high concentration of BMPs and thus regulates the possible growth factor's high-dose side effects. Exploring of L51P biological functions is required to broad our understanding of BMP mutant biological functions and their potential clinical applications. The progress of L51P researches would hopefully lead to the development of multiple applications for using the L51P in bone and fracture healing disorders.

Physical interaction of CCN2 with diverse growth factors involved in chondrocyte differentiation during endochondral ossification.

CCN family member 2 (CCN2) has been shown to promote the proliferation and differentiation of chondrocytes, osteoblasts, osteoclasts, and vascular endothelial cells. In addition, a number of growth factors and cytokines are known to work in harmony to promote the process of chondrogenesis and chondrocyte differentiation toward endochondral ossification. Earlier we showed that CCN2 physically interacts with some of them, suggesting that multiple effects of CCN2 on various differentiation stages of chondrocytes may be attributed to its interaction with these growth factors and cytokines. However, little is known about the functional interaction occurring between CCN2 and other growth factors and cytokines in promoting chondrocyte proliferation and differentiation. In this study we sought to shed light on the binding affinities between CCN2 and other essential growth factors and cytokines known to be regulators of chondrocyte differentiation. Using the surface plasmon resonance assay, we analyzed the dissociation constant between CCN2 and each of the following: TGF-ß1, TGF-ß3, IGF-I, IGF-II, PDGF-BB, GDF5, PTHrP, and VEGF. We found a strong association between CCN2 and VEGF, as well as a relatively high association with TGF-ß1, TGF-ß3, PDGF-BB, and GDF-5. However, the sensorgrams obtained for possible interaction between CCN2 and IGF-I, IGF-II or PTHrP showed no response. This study underlines the correlation between CCN2 and certain other growth factors and cytokines and suggests the possible participation of such interaction in the process of chondrogenesis and chondrocyte differentiation toward endochondral ossification.

CCN2 enhances RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation via direct binding to RANK and OPG.

CCN family protein 2/connective tissue growth factor (CCN2/CTGF) is a multi-potent factor for mesenchymal cells such as chondrocytes, osteoblasts, osteoclasts, and endothelial cells. CCN2 is also known as a modulator of other cytokines and receptors via direct molecular interactions with them. We screened additional factors binding to CCN2 and found receptor activator of NF-kappa B (RANK) as one of them. RANK is also known as TNF-related activation-induced cytokine (TRANCE) receptor, and its signaling plays a critical role in osteoclastogenesis. Notable affinity between CCN2 and RANK was confirmed by using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analysis. In fact, CCN2 enhanced the RANK-mediated signaling, such as occurs in NF-kappa B, p38 and JNK pathways, in pre-osteoclastic RAW264.7 cells; whereas CCN2 had no influence on RANK-RANK ligand (RANKL) binding. Moreover, CCN2 also significantly bound to osteoprotegerin (OPG), which is a decoy receptor of RANKL. Of note, OPG markedly inhibited the binding between CCN2 and RANK; and CCN2 canceled the inhibitory effect of OPG on osteoclast differentiation. These findings suggest CCN2 as a candidate of the fourth factor in the RANK/RANKL/OPG system for osteoclastogenesis, which regulates OPG and RANK via direct interaction.

The BMP2 antagonist inhibitor L51P enhances the osteogenic potential of BMP2 by simultaneous and delayed synergism.

Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) is a potent osteoinductive cytokine that plays crucial roles in bone repair. However, large amounts of BMP2 are required to induce sufficient bone formation in humans possibly due to a feedback response of BMP antagonists. The engineered BMP2 variant L51P is deficient in BMP receptor type I activation but maintains affinity for BMP antagonists and can allow for the inactivation of BMP antagonists, and eventually enhance BMP2 action. As hypothesized, simultaneous addition of L51P enhanced the BMP2-induced osteogenesis. To test the ability of L51P to competitively inactivate BMP antagonists, cell binding affinity of BMP2 ligands was investigated in the presence or absence of L51P. Because the BMP antagonists were highly expressed 3 days after exogenous BMP2 stimulation, we collected supernatants from 3-day stimulated cell cultures and used as condition culture media (CM). The results showed a significant decrease in the cell binding of BMP2 ligands when cells were incubated with exogenous BMP2 and CM, whereas L51P addition competitively rescued the suppression of BMP2-to-cell binding induced by CM incubation. In a delayed experimental model, L51P was applied 3 days after exogenous BMP2 stimulation and we could observe a striking enhancement of the BMP2-induced SMAD-1/5/8 phosphorylation and luciferase activity of the Id1 promoter compared to the simultaneous addition of the two factors. These findings provide a deeper insight into the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the effect of L51P in suppressing the BMP antagonists and enhancing BMP activity. Additionally, these results demonstrate that L51P is a promising down regulator of BMP-induced negative feedback, which could have a significant impact in future applications of BMP2 in research and clinical settings.