MAB1383 Sigma-AldrichAnti-Integrin α4 Antibody, clone HP2/1

Signals from fibronectin-binding integrins promote neural crest cell motility during development in part through protein-tyrosine kinase (PTK) activation. Neuroblastoma (NB) is a neural crest malignancy with high metastatic potential. We find that alpha4 and alpha5 integrins are present in late-stage NB tumors and cell lines derived thereof. To determine the signaling connections promoting either alpha4beta1- or alpha5beta1-initiated NB cell motility, pharmacological, dominant negative and short-hairpin RNA (shRNA) inhibitory approaches were undertaken. shRNA knockdown revealed that alpha5beta1-stimulated NB motility is dependent upon focal adhesion kinase (FAK) PTK, Src PTK and p130Cas adapter protein expression. Cell reconstitution showed that FAK catalytic activity is required for alpha5beta1-stimulated Src activation in part through direct FAK phosphorylation of Src at Tyr-418. Alternatively, alpha4beta1-stimulated NB cell motility is dependent upon Src and p130Cas but FAK is not essential. Catalytically inactive receptor protein-tyrosine phosphatase-alpha overexpression inhibited alpha4beta1-stimulated NB motility and Src activation consistent with alpha4-regulated Src activity occurring through Src Tyr-529 dephosphorylation. In alpha4 shRNA-expressing NB cells, alpha4beta1-stimulated Src activation and NB cell motility were rescued by wild type but not cytoplasmic domain-truncated alpha4 re-expression. These studies, supported by results using reconstituted fibroblasts, reveal that alpha4beta1-mediated Src activation is mechanistically distinct from FAK-mediated Src activation during alpha5beta1-mediated NB migration and support the evaluation of inhibitors to alpha4, Src and FAK in the control of NB tumor progression.

The extracellular lysophospholipase D autotaxin (ATX) and its product, lysophosphatidic acid, have diverse functions in development and cancer, but little is known about their functions in the immune system. Here we found that ATX had high expression in the high endothelial venules of lymphoid organs and was secreted. Chemokine-activated lymphocytes expressed receptors with enhanced affinity for ATX, which provides a mechanism for targeting the secreted ATX to lymphocytes undergoing recruitment. Lysophosphatidic acid induced chemokinesis in T cells. Intravenous injection of enzymatically inactive ATX attenuated the homing of T cells to lymphoid tissues, probably through competition with endogenous ATX and exertion of a dominant negative effect. Our results support the idea of a new and general step in the homing cascade in which the ectoenzyme ATX facilitates the entry of lymphocytes into lymphoid organs.

Spermiation is the final step of spermatogenesis and culminates in the disengagement (release) of elongated spermatids from Sertoli cells into the seminiferous tubule lumen. Spermiation failure, wherein spermatids are retained by Sertoli cells instead of releasing, occurs after hormone suppression. The mechanisms involved in spermatid disengagement and retention are not well understood. We previously showed that beta(1)-integrin is associated with spermatids until the point of disengagement, but the ectoplasmic specialisation junction (ES) is not. The aims of this paper are to further characterise the complex that is present immediately prior to spermatid disengagement by identifying the alpha-integrin form dimerised with beta(1)-integrin, localising focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and determining if microtubules are involved. Adult Sprague-Dawley rats received testosterone and oestradiol implants and an FSH antibody for 7 days to suppress testicular testosterone and FSH and induce spermiation failure. Control rats were treated with saline. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that alpha(6)-integrin and a phosphorylated form of FAK (FAK-Tyr(397)) are present between late spermatids and Sertoli cells after ES removal, until the point of disengagement, and both proteins remain associated with retained spermatids after spermiation failure induced by hormone suppression. Using dual-label immunofluorescence, tubulins (and thus microtubules) were observed to co-localise with ES, but were neither associated with elongated spermatids just prior to release nor with retained spermatids following hormone suppression. These results suggest that microtubules are not involved in the final release of spermatids from Sertoli cells. We conclude that spermatid release during spermiation is mediated by a 'disengagement complex' containing alpha(6)beta(1)-integrin and phospho-FAK, the function of which can be affected by gonadotrophin suppression.

Osteosarcomas and rhabdomyosarcomas are vigorously invading tumors. Before they can extravasate to the parenchymal organs and form metastases, they have to adhere to the endothelial cells lining the blood vessels and then penetrate through the endothelium. We show that several human sarcoma cell lines, osteosarcomas HOS, MG-63, U2-OS, and a rhabdomyosarcoma RD, express VLA-4 molecule on their surface and bind to the VCAM-I-expressing activated endothelial cell line Ea.hy 926. The increased sarcoma-cell adhesion could be abolished by treating the sarcoma cells with monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) VLA4 (both alpha- and beta-chain, HP2/1 and 4B4 respectively) or treating endothelial cells with VCAM-I antibody (4B9). Furthermore, we show that sarcoma cells adhere to recombinant soluble VCAM-I protein. On the other hand, these sarcoma cell lines do not express marked amounts of other ligands (such as CDII/18 or sialyl-Lex) for other endothelial adhesion molecules (ICAM-I, ICAM-2, E- and P-selectin) indicating that the VLA-4-VCAM-I dependent pathway might be of major importance in sarcoma extravasation. VLA-4 is not always in an avid form and therefore the expression of VLA-4 does not directly predict adherence to VCAM-I. The avidity of VLA-4 (measured by adherence to soluble VCAM-I) of MG-63 and U2-OS cells could be increased by a 30-min PMA treatment, whereas the avidity of VLA-4 on HOS cells increased only after 48 hr of PMA induction. Our results show that sarcoma cell lines (HOS, MG-63, U2-OS and RD) adhere to stimulated endothelium via VLA-4-VCAM-I adhesion molecules and that VLA-4 avidity on sarcoma cells can be differentially modulated by PMA.

Adherence of human eosinophils to cytokine-stimulated endothelial cells, which was only partially due to CD18-dependent pathways, was also mediated by binding to endothelial leukocyte adhesion molecule 1 (ELAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1). Eosinophils bound specifically to both recombinant soluble ELAM-1 and recombinant soluble VCAM-1. Eosinophil binding to recombinant soluble VCAM-1 and to transfected CHO cells expressing VCAM-1 was inhibited with anti-VCAM-1 (4B9) and anti-very late activation antigen 4 (anti-VLA-4; HP1/2 or HP2/1) monoclonal antibodies. Eosinophils, but not neutrophils, expressed VLA-4 detected by cytofluorography. Eosinophil adherence to tumor necrosis factor alpha-stimulated human umbilical vein endothelial cells was partially blocked by monoclonal antibodies against ELAM-1 (BB11) and VCAM-1 (4B9) and against VLA-4 (HP2/1). Thus, while both eosinophils and neutrophils can bind to activated endothelial cells by adherence to ICAM-1 and ELAM-1, only eosinophils expressed VLA-4 and adhered to VCAM-1 on activated endothelial cells. Eosinophil adherence to VCAM-1 might provide a mechanism contributing to the selective recruitment of eosinophils into tissue sites of inflammation.

The family of human T cell activation-associated proteins, named VLA complex, is formed by the molecular association of cell surface glycoproteins of 210, 165, 130 and 80 kDa. In this report, we describe eight different monoclonal antibodies (HP mAb) specific for the 80-kDa polypeptide which preferentially associates with the 165-kDa member. Comparative immunoprecipitation and cell-binding studies demonstrated that the HP mAb recognize an epitope(s) on the 165/80 kDa subset different from those recognized by other anti-VLA mAb previously described. Furthermore, cellular and tissue distribution studies by flow cytometry and peroxidase staining showed that the HP reactivity pattern is different from other VLA specificities. The 165/80-kDa complex defined by HP mAb is present on human thymocytes, peripheral blood lymphocytes as well as on T, B and myelomonocytic cell lines. However, only the 80-kDa subunit was precipitated by HP mAb from activated T lymphocytes. These results suggest that the association between the 165- and 80-kDa subunits diminishes during the activation process, and that the epitopes recognized by the HP mAb are located on the 80-kDa protein. The novel polypeptide association of 165/80 kDa has been termed VLA-3.