Hsp47 promotes cancer metastasis by enhancing collagen-dependent cancer cell-platelet interaction.

Increased expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) suggests potential function of cancer cell-produced ECM in initiation of cancer cell colonization. Here, we showed that collagen and heat shock protein 47 (Hsp47), a chaperone facilitating collagen secretion and deposition, were highly expressed during the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and in CTCs. Hsp47 expression induced mesenchymal phenotypes in mammary epithelial cells (MECs), enhanced platelet recruitment, and promoted lung retention and colonization of cancer cells. Platelet depletion in vivo abolished Hsp47-induced cancer cell retention in the lung, suggesting that Hsp47 promotes cancer cell colonization by enhancing cancer cell-platelet interaction. Using rescue experiments and functional blocking antibodies, we identified type I collagen as the key mediator of Hsp47-induced cancer cell-platelet interaction. We also found that Hsp47-dependent collagen deposition and platelet recruitment facilitated cancer cell clustering and extravasation in vitro. By analyzing DNA/RNA sequencing data generated from human breast cancer tissues, we showed that gene amplification and increased expression of Hsp47 were associated with cancer metastasis. These results suggest that targeting the Hsp47/collagen axis is a promising strategy to block cancer cell-platelet interaction and cancer colonization in secondary organs.

Protective mucosal immunity mediated by epithelial CD1d and IL-10.

The mechanisms by which mucosal homeostasis is maintained are of central importance to inflammatory bowel disease. Critical to these processes is the intestinal epithelial cell (IEC), which regulates immune responses at the interface between the commensal microbiota and the host. CD1d presents self and microbial lipid antigens to natural killer T (NKT) cells, which are involved in the pathogenesis of colitis in animal models and human inflammatory bowel disease. As CD1d crosslinking on model IECs results in the production of the important regulatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-10 (ref. 9), decreased epithelial CD1d expression--as observed in inflammatory bowel disease--may contribute substantially to intestinal inflammation. Here we show in mice that whereas bone-marrow-derived CD1d signals contribute to NKT-cell-mediated intestinal inflammation, engagement of epithelial CD1d elicits protective effects through the activation of STAT3 and STAT3-dependent transcription of IL-10, heat shock protein 110 (HSP110; also known as HSP105), and CD1d itself. All of these epithelial elements are critically involved in controlling CD1d-mediated intestinal inflammation. This is demonstrated by severe NKT-cell-mediated colitis upon IEC-specific deletion of IL-10, CD1d, and its critical regulator microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP), as well as deletion of HSP110 in the radioresistant compartment. Our studies thus uncover a novel pathway of IEC-dependent regulation of mucosal homeostasis and highlight a critical role of IL-10 in the intestinal epithelium, with broad implications for diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease.

Deletion of the collagen-specific molecular chaperone Hsp47 causes endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated apoptosis of hepatic stellate cells.

Chronic liver injury, often caused by alcoholism and viral hepatitis, causes liver fibrosis via the induction of collagen production. In liver fibrosis, hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are activated and transform into myofibroblasts, which actively produce and secrete collagen into the extracellular matrix. Hsp47 (heat shock protein 47) is a collagen-specific molecular chaperone that is essential for the maturation and secretion of collagen. Here, we used the Cre-LoxP system to disrupt the Hsp47 gene in isolated HSCs from Hsp47 floxed mice. Immature type I procollagen accumulated and partially aggregated in Hsp47-KO HSCs. This accumulation was augmented when autophagy was inhibited, which induced expression of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-inducible proteins BiP (immunoglobulin heavy chain-binding protein) and Grp94 (94-kDa glucose-regulated protein). The inhibition of autophagy in Hsp47-KO HSCs also induced CHOP (CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein homologous protein), which is an ER stress-induced transcription factor responsible for apoptosis. These data suggest that apoptosis is induced through ER stress by procollagen accumulation in Hsp47-KO HSCs when autophagy is inhibited. Thus, Hsp47 could be a promising therapeutic target in liver fibrosis.

The molecular chaperone Hsp47 is essential for cartilage and endochondral bone formation.

Heat shock protein 47 kDa (Hsp47) is considered as a molecular chaperone essential for the correct folding of type I and type IV procollagen in the ER. However, the function of Hsp47 for other types of procollagen and its importance for chondrogenesis have never been elucidated. To examine the function of Hsp47 in cartilage formation and endochondral ossification, we conditionally inactivated the Hsp47 gene in chondrocytes using Hsp47 floxed mice and mice carrying a chondrocyte-specific Col2a1-Cre transgene. Hsp47 conditional null mutant mice died just before or shortly after birth, and exhibited severe generalized chondrodysplasia and bone deformities with lower levels of type II and type XI collagen. Second-harmonic generation (SHG) analysis and electron microscopy revealed the accumulation of misaligned type I collagen molecules in the intervertebral discs and a substantial decrease in type II collagen fibers, respectively. Whole-mount skeletal staining showed no calcified region in the vertebral bodies of sacral vertebrae, and revealed that the endochondral bones were severely twisted and shortened. These results demonstrate that Hsp47 is indispensable for well-organized cartilage and normal endochondral bone formation.

Rescue of mutant alpha-galactosidase A in the endoplasmic reticulum by 1-deoxygalactonojirimycin leads to trafficking to lysosomes.

Active-site-specific chaperone therapy for Fabry disease is a genotype-specific therapy using a competitive inhibitor, 1-deoxygalactonojirimycin (DGJ). To elucidate the mechanism of enhancing alpha-galactosidase A (alpha-Gal A) activity by DGJ-treatment, we studied the degradation of a mutant protein and the effect of DGJ in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). We first established an in vitro translation and translocation system using rabbit reticulocyte lysates and canine pancreas microsomal vesicles for a study on the stability of mutant alpha-Gal A with an amino acid substitution (R301Q) in the ER. R301Q was rapidly degraded, but no degradation of wild-type alpha-Gal A was observed when microsomal vesicles containing wild-type or R301Q alpha-Gal A were isolated and incubated. A pulse-chase experiment on R301Q-expressing TgM/KO mouse fibroblasts showed rapid degradation of R301Q, and its degradation was blocked by the addition of lactacystin, indicating that R301Q was degraded by ER-associated degradation (ERAD). Rapid degradation of R301Q was also observed in TgM/KO mouse fibroblasts treated with brefeldin A, and the amount of R301Q enzyme markedly increased by pretreatment with DGJ starting 12 h prior to addition of brefeldin A. The enhancement of alpha-Gal A activity and its protein level by DGJ-treatment was selectively observed in brefeldin A-treated COS-7 cells expressing R301Q but not in cells expressing the wild-type alpha-Gal A. Observation by immunoelectron microscopy showed that the localization of R301Q in COS-7 cells was in the lysosomes, not the ER. These data suggest that the rescue of R301Q from ERAD is a key step for normalization of intracellular trafficking of R301Q.

Cell-specific ablation of Hsp47 defines the collagen-producing cells in the injured heart

Collagen production in the adult heart is thought to be regulated by the fibroblast, although cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells also express multiple collagen mRNAs. Molecular chaperones are required for procollagen biosynthesis, including heat shock protein 47 (Hsp47). To determine the cell types critically involved in cardiac injury­induced fibrosis theHsp47 gene was deleted in cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, or myofibroblasts. Deletion ofHsp47 from cardiomyocytes during embryonic development or adult stages, or deletion from adult endothelial cells, did not affect cardiac fibrosis after pressure overload injury. However, myofibroblast-specific ablation of Hsp47; blocked fibrosis and deposition of collagens type I, III, and V following pressure overload as well as significantly reduced cardiac hypertrophy. Fibroblast-specific Hsp47-deleted mice showed lethality after myocardial infarction injury, with ineffective scar formation and ventricular wall rupture. Similarly, only myofibroblast-specific deletion of Hsp47reduced fibrosis and disease in skeletal muscle in a mouse model of muscular dystrophy. Mechanistically, deletion of Hsp47 from myofibroblasts reduced mRNA expression of fibrillar collagens and attenuated their proliferation in the heart without affecting paracrine secretory activity of these cells. The results show that myofibroblasts are the primary mediators of tissue fibrosis and scar formation in the injured adult heart, which unexpectedly affects cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.

Anti-inflammatory effect of buckwheat sprouts in lipopolysaccharide-activated human colon cancer cells and mice.

In conducting an in vitro screening of ethanol extracts from various natural foods using a human colon cancer cell line (CoLoTC cells), an extract of buckwheat sprouts (ExtBS) was found to express significant anti-inflammatory activity. The anti-inflammatory activity of ExtBS was confirmed by oral administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to mice. Inflammatory cytokines (interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha) were markedly up-regulated in the spleen and liver from LPS-administrated mice, and combinatory treatment with LPS and ExtBS decreased up-regulation of them in both cytokines. Both serum cytokine levels corresponded to their gene expressions in tissues, but no anti-inflammatry effect in mice was observed when ExtBS was treated intraperitoneally. ExtBS oral administration also showed protective activity as to hepatic injury induced by galactosamine/LPS treatment. Based on these data, we suggest that ExtBS contains anti-inflammatory compounds.

Mutant alpha-galactosidase A enzymes identified in Fabry disease patients with residual enzyme activity: biochemical characterization and restoration of normal intracellular processing by 1-deoxygalactonojirimycin.

Fabry disease is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by the deficiency of alpha-Gal A (alpha-galactosidase A) activity. In order to understand the molecular mechanism underlying alpha-Gal A deficiency in Fabry disease patients with residual enzyme activity, enzymes with different missense mutations were purified from transfected COS-7 cells and the biochemical properties were characterized. The mutant enzymes detected in variant patients (A20P, E66Q, M72V, I91T, R112H, F113L, N215S, Q279E, M296I, M296V and R301Q), and those found mostly in mild classic patients (A97V, A156V, L166V and R356W) appeared to have normal K(m) and V(max) values. The degradation of all mutants (except E59K) was partially inhibited by treatment with kifunensine, a selective inhibitor of ER (endoplasmic reticulum) alpha-mannosidase I. Metabolic labelling and subcellular fractionation studies in COS-7 cells expressing the L166V and R301Q alpha-Gal A mutants indicated that the mutant protein was retained in the ER and degraded without processing. Addition of DGJ (1-deoxygalactonojirimycin) to the culture medium of COS-7 cells transfected with a large set of missense mutant alpha-Gal A cDNAs effectively increased both enzyme activity and protein yield. DGJ was capable of normalizing intracellular processing of mutant alpha-Gal A found in both classic (L166V) and variant (R301Q) Fabry disease patients. In addition, the residual enzyme activity in fibroblasts or lymphoblasts from both classic and variant hemizygous Fabry disease patients carrying a variety of missense mutations could be substantially increased by cultivation of the cells with DGJ. These results indicate that a large proportion of mutant enzymes in patients with residual enzyme activity are kinetically active. Excessive degradation in the ER could be responsible for the deficiency of enzyme activity in vivo, and the DGJ approach may be broadly applicable to Fabry disease patients with missense mutations.