Published in Cancer Letters
Epithelial cells and most adherent normal cells rely on adhesion-dependent, integrin-mediated survival signals from the extracellular matrix (ECM) to survive. When these cells are deprived of adhesion to the ECM, they undergo a specific form of apoptosis termed "anoikis." In contrast, malignant cells have attained mechanisms to enable them to survi...
Published in Oncogene
We have recently described a class of peptides that improve drug delivery by increasing penetration of drugs into solid tumors. These peptides contain a C-terminal C-end Rule (CendR) sequence motif (R/K)XX(R/K), which is responsible for cell internalization and tissue-penetration activity. Tumor-specific CendR peptides contain both a tumor-homing m...
Published in Advanced Materials
Published in Molecular and Cellular Biology
p32/gC1qR/C1QBP/HABP1 is a mitochondrial/cell surface protein overexpressed in certain cancer cells. Here we show that knocking down p32 expression in human cancer cells strongly shifts their metabolism from oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to glycolysis. The p32 knockdown cells exhibited reduced synthesis of the mitochondrial-DNA-encoded OXPHOS ...
Published in American Journal Of Pathology
We have explored molecular specialization of the vasculature of regenerating wound tissue in the skin and tendons to identify a different repertoire of markers from that obtained by studying tumor vasculature. We screened a phage-displayed peptide library for peptides that home to wounds in mice and identified two peptides that selectively target p...
Published in The Journal of Immunology
The ability of viruses and bacteria to interact with the extracellular matrix plays an important role in their infectivity and pathogenicity. Fibronectin is a major component of the extracellular matrix in lymph node tissue, the main site of HIV deposition and replication during the chronic phase of infection. Therefore, we asked whether matrix fib...
Published in Nature
Glomerulonephritis is an inflammation of the kidney characterized by the accumulation of extracellular matrix within the damaged glomeruli, impaired filtration and proteinuria. In its progressive form, the disease destroys kidney function leading to uraemia and death, unless dialysis therapy or kidney transplantation is available. The pathogenesis ...
Published in Harvey lectures
Published in Cell
Affinity chromatography was used to identify a putative cell surface receptor for fibronectin. A large cell-attachment-promoting fibronectin fragment was used as the affinity matrix, and specific elution was effected by using synthetic peptides containing the sequence Arg-Gly-Asp, which is derived from the cell recognition sequence in the fibronect...
Published in G Protein Coupled Receptors - Structure
Published in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
Published in Journal of Clinical Investigation
Glomerular accumulation of extracellular matrix is a prominent feature of progressive glomerulonephritis. Previously, we have shown that transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) is unique among growth factors in regulating the production of the proteoglycans biglycan and decorin by glomerular mesangial cells in vitro. We now provide evidence of a...
Published in The EMBO Journal
cDNA clones for vitronectin, a cell adhesion-promoting plasma and tissue protein, were isolated from a lambda gt11 library containing cDNA inserts made from human liver mRNA. The library was screened with anti-vitronectin antibodies and the positive clones were further identified with synthetic oligonucleotide probes deduced from the partial amino ...
Published in Ciba Foundation symposium
Glomerulonephritis is an inflammation of the kidney characterized by the accumulation of extracellular matrix within the damaged glomeruli. We have shown that TGF-beta 1 is unique in regulating the production of proteoglycans and matrix glycoproteins by glomerular cells in vitro. In an experimental model of glomerulonephritis in rats we found incre...
Published in Cancer Research
The attachment of circulating tumor cells to the blood vessels of distant organs is an important step in metastasis. We show here that experimental lung metastasis by two cell lines, B16F1 melanoma and 3LL lung carcinoma, is greatly reduced in transgenic mice that lack plasma fibronectin. This multifunctional adhesive glycoprotein becomes cross-lin...
Published in Journal of Controlled Release
Previously we reported that plasma kallikrein and high molecular weight kininogen attach to the surface of dextran-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) through the incompletely covered iron oxide core (Simberg et al., Biomaterials, 2009). Here we show that SPION also activate kallikrein-kinin system in vitro and in vivo. The se...
Published in Journal of Clinical Investigation
Published in Arthritis & Rheumatism
The distribution and amount of fibronectin in both involved and uninvolved skin from scleroderma patients and controls were compared by indirect immunofluorescence. A marked increase in fibronectin was found in the deep dermis of involved scleroderma skin, while the subepidermal papillary regions of all specimens revealed little variation in fibron...
Published in Nat Rev Cancer
Tumour blood vessels express markers that are not present in resting blood vessels of normal tissues, but that can be shared by angiogenic vessels in non-malignant conditions. Many of these proteins are functionally important in the angiogenic process. Some tumours also contain lymphatic vessels, as well as channels that consist of cancer cells and...
