Proteomics to identify galectin binding partners
Colomb F, Wang W, Simpson D, Zafar M, Beynon R, Rhodes JM, Yu LG. (2017) Galectin-3 interacts with the cell surface glycoprotein CD146 (MCAM, MUC18) and induces secretion of metastasis-promoting cytokines from vascular endothelial cells. [PDF] [PUBMED] J Biol Chem. 2017 Mar 31. pii: jbc.M117.783431. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M117.783431.
The galactoside-binding protein galectin-3 is increasingly recognized as an important player in cancer development, progression, and metastasis via its interactions with various galactoside-terminated glycans. We have previously shown that circulating galectin-3, that is increased by up to 30-fold in cancer patients, promotes blood-borne metastasis in an animal cancer model. This effect is partly attributable to galectin-3 interaction with unknown receptor(s) on vascular endothelial cells and causes endothelial secretion of several metastasis-promoting cytokines. Here, we sought to identify the galectin-3-binding molecule(s) on the endothelial cell surface responsible for the galectin-3-mediated cytokine secretion. Using two different galectin-3 affinity purification processes we extracted four cell-membrane glycoproteins, CD146/MCAM/MUC18, CD31/PECAM-1, CD144/VE-cadherin, and CD106/Endoglin, from vascular endothelial cells. CD146 was the major galectin-3-binding ligand and strongly co-localized with galectin-3 on endothelial cell surfaces treated with exogenous galectin-3. Moreover, galectin-3 bound to N-linked glycans on CD146 and induced CD146 dimerization and subsequent activation of AKT signalling. siRNA-mediated suppression of CD146 expression completely abolished the galectin-3-induced secretion of IL-6 and GCSF cytokines from the endothelial cells. Thus, CD146/MCAM is the functional galectin-3-binding ligand on endothelial cell surfaces responsible for galectin-3-induced secretion of metastasis-promoting cytokines. We conclude that CD146/MCAM interactions with circulating galectin-3 may have an important influence on cancer progression and metastasis.
The galactoside-binding protein galectin-3 is increasingly recognized as an important player in cancer development, progression, and metastasis via its interactions with various galactoside-terminated glycans. We have previously shown that circulating galectin-3, that is increased by up to 30-fold in cancer patients, promotes blood-borne metastasis in an animal cancer model. This effect is partly attributable to galectin-3 interaction with unknown receptor(s) on vascular endothelial cells and causes endothelial secretion of several metastasis-promoting cytokines. Here, we sought to identify the galectin-3-binding molecule(s) on the endothelial cell surface responsible for the galectin-3-mediated cytokine secretion. Using two different galectin-3 affinity purification processes we extracted four cell-membrane glycoproteins, CD146/MCAM/MUC18, CD31/PECAM-1, CD144/VE-cadherin, and CD106/Endoglin, from vascular endothelial cells. CD146 was the major galectin-3-binding ligand and strongly co-localized with galectin-3 on endothelial cell surfaces treated with exogenous galectin-3. Moreover, galectin-3 bound to N-linked glycans on CD146 and induced CD146 dimerization and subsequent activation of AKT signalling. siRNA-mediated suppression of CD146 expression completely abolished the galectin-3-induced secretion of IL-6 and GCSF cytokines from the endothelial cells. Thus, CD146/MCAM is the functional galectin-3-binding ligand on endothelial cell surfaces responsible for galectin-3-induced secretion of metastasis-promoting cytokines. We conclude that CD146/MCAM interactions with circulating galectin-3 may have an important influence on cancer progression and metastasis.