Endocytic collagen degradation: a novel mechanism involved in protection against liver fibrosis.

Fibrosis of the liver and its end-stage, cirrhosis, represent major health problems worldwide. In these fibrotic conditions, activated fibroblasts and hepatic stellate cells display a net deposition of collagen. This collagen deposition is a major factor leading to liver dysfunction, thus making it crucially important to understand both the collagen synthesis and turnover mechanisms in this condition. Here we show that the endocytic collagen receptor, uPARAP/Endo180, is a major determinant in governing the balance between collagen deposition and degradation. Cirrhotic human livers displayed a marked up-regulation of uPARAP/Endo180 in activated fibroblasts and hepatic stellate cells located close to the collagen deposits. In a hepatic stellate cell line, uPARAP/Endo180 was shown to be active in, and required for, the uptake and intracellular degradation of collagen. To evaluate the functional importance of this collagen receptor in vivo, liver fibrosis was induced in uPARAP/Endo180-deficient mice and littermate wild-type mice by chronic CCl(4) administration. A strong up-regulation of uPARAP/Endo180 was observed in wild-type mice, and a quantitative comparison of collagen deposits in the two groups of mice clearly revealed a fibrosis protective role of uPARAP/Endo180. This effect appeared to directly reflect the activity of the collagen receptor, since no compensatory events were noted when comparing the mRNA expression profiles of the two groups of mice in an array system focused on matrix-degrading components. This function of uPARAP/Endo180 defines a novel role of intracellular collagen turnover in fibrosis protection.

The non-phagocytic route of collagen uptake: a distinct degradation pathway.

The degradation of collagens, the most abundant proteins of the extracellular matrix, is involved in numerous physiological and pathological conditions including cancer invasion. An important turnover pathway involves cellular internalization and degradation of large, soluble collagen fragments, generated by initial cleavage of the insoluble collagen fibers. We have previously observed that in primary mouse fibroblasts, this endocytosis of collagen fragments is dependent on the receptor urokinase plasminogen activator receptor-associated protein (uPARAP)/Endo180. Others have identified additional mechanisms of collagen uptake, with different associated receptors, in other cell types. These receptors include ß1-integrins, being responsible for collagen phagocytosis, and the mannose receptor. We have now utilized a newly developed monoclonal antibody against uPARAP/Endo180, which down-regulates the receptor protein level on treated cells, to examine the role of uPARAP/Endo180 as a mediator of collagen internalization by a wide range of cultured cell types. With the exception of macrophages, all cells that proved capable of efficient collagen internalization were of mesenchymal origin and all of these utilized uPARAP/Endo180 for their collagen uptake process. Macrophages internalized collagen in a process mediated by the mannose receptor, a protein belonging to the same protein family as uPARAP/Endo180. ß1-Integrins were found not to be involved in the endocytosis of soluble collagen, irrespectively of whether this was mediated by uPARAP/Endo180 or the mannose receptor. This further distinguishes these pathways from the phagocytic uptake of particulate collagen.