Hyaluronan in human malignancies.

Hyaluronan, a major macropolysaccharide in the extracellular matrix of connective tissues, is intimately involved in the biology of cancer. Hyaluronan accumulates into the stroma of various human tumors and modulates intracellular signaling pathways, cell proliferation, motility and invasive properties of malignant cells. Experimental and clinicopathological evidence highlights the importance of hyaluronan in tumor growth and metastasis. A high stromal hyaluronan content is associated with poorly differentiated tumors and aggressive clinical behavior in human adenocarcinomas. Instead, the squamous cell carcinomas and malignant melanomas tend to have a reduced hyaluronan content. In addition to the stroma-cancer cell interaction, hyaluronan can influence stromal cell recruitment, tumor angiogenesis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Hyaluronan receptors, hyaluronan synthases and hyaluronan degrading enzymes, hyaluronidases, are involved in the modulation of cancer progression, depending on the tumor type. Furthermore, intracellular signaling and angiogenesis are affected by the degradation products of hyaluronan. Hyaluronan has also therapeutic implications since it is involved in multidrug resistance.

High hydrostatic pressure induces ERK and PI3 kinase phosphorylation in human HCS-2/8 chondrosarcoma cells.

High continuous hydrostatic pressure has been shown to affect many cellular functions within the pressurised cells, for instance, accumulation of heat shock protein 70 occurs during pressurisation. Various signal transduction pathways are likely to mediate these changes, however, at the present time our knowledge of the pathways involved is rather limited. The aim of this study was to investigate whether some of the well known transduction pathways are activated by the exposure of human chondrosarcoma cells to 15-30 MPa hydrostatic pressure. The results showed an increased presence of the active, phosphorylated forms of extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) in cells exposed to 15 and 30 MPa continuous hydrostatic pressure, while 0.5 Hz cyclic loading had weaker effects. Inhibition of ERK-pathway with UO126 did not prevent the accumulation of heat shock protein 70. No activation of c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase (JNK) or p38 could be noticed in pressurised cells. In conclusion, we could identify at least two different signal transduction pathways that are activated under high continuous hydrostatic pressure. Accumulation of heat shock protein 70 was independent of ERK-activation.

Epidermal growth factor activates hyaluronan synthase 2 in epidermal keratinocytes and increases pericellular and intracellular hyaluronan.

Hyaluronan is an abundant and rapidly turned over matrix molecule between the vital cell layers of the epidermis. In this study, epidermal growth factor (EGF) induced a coat of hyaluronan and a 3-5-fold increase in its rate of synthesis in a rat epidermal keratinocyte cell line that has retained its ability for differentiation. EGF also increased hyaluronan in perinuclear vesicles, suggesting concurrent enhancement in its endocytosis. Cell-associated hyaluronan was most abundant in elongated cells that were stimulated to migrate by EGF, as determined in vitro in a wound healing assay. Large fluctuations in the pool size of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine, the metabolic precursor of hyaluronan, correlated with medium glucose concentrations but not with EGF. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) showed no increase in hyaluronan synthases 1 and 3 (Has1 and Has3), whereas Has2 mRNA increased 2-3-fold in less than 2 h following the introduction of EGF, as estimated by quantitative RT-PCR with a truncated Has2 mRNA internal standard. The average level of Has2 mRNA increased from approximately 6 copies/cell in cultures before change of fresh medium, up to approximately 54 copies/cell after 6 h in EGF-containing medium. A control medium with 10% serum caused a maximum level of approximately 21 copies/cell at 6 h. The change in the Has2 mRNA levels and the stimulation of hyaluronan synthesis followed a similar temporal pattern, reaching a maximum level at 6 h and declining toward 24 h, a finding in line with a predominantly Has2-dependent hyaluronan synthesis and its transcriptional regulation.

Differential regulation of stress proteins by high hydrostatic pressure, heat shock, and unbalanced calcium homeostasis in chondrocytic cells.

High hydrostatic pressure (HP) has recently been shown to increase cellular heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) level in a specific way that does not involve transcriptional activation of the gene, but rather the stabilisation of the mRNA for Hsp70. In this study, we investigated whether there are other observable changes caused by HP stress, and compared them with those induced by certain other forms of stressors. A chondrocytic cell line T/C28a4 was exposed to 30 MPa continuous HP, heat shock at 43 degrees C, and increased cytosolic calcium concentration by the addition of sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) ATPase inhibitor thapsigargin (25 nM) or calcium ionophore A23187 (1 microM) in the cultures. The protein synthesis was studied by in vitro metabolic labelling followed by one- and two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and mass spectrometry was utilized to confirm the identity of the protein spots on two-dimensional gels. Continuous 30 MPa HP increased remarkably the relative labelling of Hsp70. Labelling of Hsp90 was also increased by 15-20%, although no clear change was evident at the protein level in Western blots. Elevated intracellular Ca(2+) concentration induced by thapsigargin and calcium ionophore A23187 increased mainly the synthesis of glucose-regulated protein 78 (Grp78/BiP), whereas Hsp70 and Hsp90 were decreased by the treatment. Heat shock was the strongest inducer of Hsp70 and Hsp90. This study further confirmed the induction of Hsp70 in chondrocytic cells exposed to high HP, but it also showed that calcium-mediated responses are unlikely to cause the stress response observed in the hydrostatically pressurized cells.