Background
Pleiotrophin, also known as HARP (Heparin Affin Regulatory Peptide) is a 136-amino acid, secreted growth factor that, along with Midkine, constitutes a two-member sub family of heparin binding growth factors (HBGFs). Although pleiotrophin has been shown to promote neurite outgrowth in the developing brain [
1], elevated concentrations of this growth factor are found in many types of tumors as well as in the plasma of patients with different types of cancer [
2‐
4]. Pleiotrophin induces a transformed phenotype in several cell lines [
5,
6] and exhibits mitogenic, anti apoptotic, chemotactic, and angiogenic actions
in vitro as well as
in vivo [
7‐
10].
The biological activities of pleiotrophin are mediated by three distinct receptors: SDC3 (N-Syndecan) [
11], Receptor Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase (RPTPβ/ζ) [
12], and Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) [
13]. N-Syndecan and RPTPβ/ζ have been implicated in neurite outgrowth [
10,
11], while RPTPβ/ζ and ALK have been shown to mediate cellular migration induced by pleiotrophin as well as the mitogenic, angiogenic, and transforming activities of this growth factor [
14‐
18].
Growth factors can be hydrolyzed by proteases, leading to the production of biological active peptides. Previous studies indicate that pleiotrophin is cleaved by enzymes in the extracellular environment, such as plasmin, trypsin, chymotrypsin, and MMPs. Moreover, the resulting peptides exert altered biological functions compared to the whole molecule. The proteolytic cleavage of pleiotrophin is also affected by the presence of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), suggesting that a complex system serves to regulate the overall effect of this growth factor [
19,
20]. Furthermore, pleiotrophin and pleiotrophin peptides modulate the biological actions of other growth factors such as VEGF, contributing to the complex mode of growth factor actions [
21].
Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common cancer among men in Western countries, although the development of PCa as well as the signals contributing to the transformed phenotype of PCa cells remains incompletely understood [
22]. During adulthood, maintenance of normal prostate function depends on mesenchymal-epithelial interactions, which contribute to the homeostatic equilibrium of the glandular prostate epithelial cells. Disturbances in this equilibrium lead to the development of diseases like PCa. Although the mechanisms that control the mesenchymal-epithelial interactions are poorly understood, numerous studies suggest that growth factors have a key role in prostate homeostasis. Pleiotrophin has been implicated in PCa progression and acts as an autocrine growth factor in various prostate-derived cell lines including DU145, PC3, and LNCaP [
23,
24].
Truncated forms of pleiotrophin or synthetic peptides corresponding to defined domains of this growth factor have been studied in an attempt to understand the structure/function relationship of pleiotrophin [
25‐
27]. We previously reported that the biological effects of this growth factor were inhibited by the truncated mutant PTNΔ111-136 and corresponding synthetic peptide P(111-136) [
28]. In the context of defining peptides with anti tumor actions, we sought to identify the minimum sequence responsible for the inhibition of pleiotrophin activity. Since an obvious feature of P(111-136) is the stretch of basic residues, we investigated whether the basic sequence P(122-131) (KKKKKEGKKQ) may have biological activities that are related to the induction of a transformed phenotype in PCa cells. Here, we investigated the effect of P(122-131) on the adhesion, proliferation, and migration of two prostate epithelial cell lines as well as on
in vivo angiogenesis.
Discussion
During the last decade, pleiotrophin has come to be recognized as a pleiotropic growth factor that participates not only in neurite outgrowth in the developing brain [
1], but also in angiogenesis, and malignant transformation of many cell types. Pleiotrophin is elevated in sera or tumors from patients with colon, stomach, pancreatic, and breast cancer [
2‐
10]. Moreover, the differential expression of pleiotrophin mRNA and protein among normal and malignant prostate epithelial cells, implicates this protein in the induction of a transformed phenotype [
24].
NMR studies showed that pleiotrophin contains two β-sheet domains connected by a flexible linker. In addition, its two lysine cluster sequences within both the N- and C-terminal domains lack a detectable structure and appear to form random coils [
32]. To date, pleiotrophin activities have been attributed either to the entire molecule or to specific domains. From previous studies, it is known that either but not both the N- or C-terminal domains is required for pleiotrophin activity [
27], and that the C-terminal domain is involved in the mitogenic, angiogenic, and tumor formation activities of this growth factor [
25,
28]. Furthermore, pleiotrophin peptide fragments have been detected in cell supernatants, as well as in tissues [
33,
34], and such peptides can also be generated
in vitro by proteolytic cleavage of pleiotrophin [
20]. Our group has already characterized the biological actions of several pleiotrophin peptides [
10,
20,
25,
28]. It is noteworthy, that although pleiotrophin N- and C-terminal domains lack a detectable structure, peptides corresponding to these domains induce
in vitro and
in vivo angiogenesis [
10,
33]. Therefore, the biological actions of pleiotrophin should be always considered to be the overall outcome of its secretion, degradation, and specific cleavage, with latter event possibly generating pleiotrophin peptides with diverse, or even opposite, biological actions. To illustrate this point, a study on glioblastoma cell proliferation and migration has revealed that cleavage of the 12 C-terminal amino acids from pleiotrophin (124-136) leads to distinct biological activities through differential activation of RPTPβ/ζ or ALK signalling pathways [
15].
In this study, we sought to identify the minimum sequence of the C-terminal region of pleiotrophin that is responsible for the inhibition of biological activities that are related to the induction of a transformed phenotype in PCa cells. Since an obvious feature of pleiotrophin C-terminal domain is the stretch of basic residues, we investigated the effect of the basic sequence P(122-131) (KKKKKEGKKQ) on tumor phenotypes. Our results showed that P(122-131) inhibits DU145 and LNCaP cell adhesion, anchorage-independent proliferation, and migration in a concentration dependent manner. Furthermore, the CAM assay revealed that P(122-131) suppressed the formation of new blood vessels, a process important for tumor growth and metastasis. These biological activities of P(122-131) could be attributed solely to its high positive charge. Nevertheless, this does not seem to be the case, since, in the same set of experiments, neither AAD nor 5K exerted any detectable biological activity. Thus, the action of P(122-131) is more likely due to its specific amino acid sequence and charge.
To reveal the mechanism through which P(122-131) exerts its biological actions, we investigated the effect of this peptide on signaling mediated by the pleiotrophin receptors. Pleiotrophin binds to specific cell surface receptors such as SDC3 [
11], ALK [
13], and RPTPβ/ζ [
12]. RPTPβ/ζ is synthesized as a membrane-bound CS proteoglycan and its extracellular variant, which is generated by alternative splicing, is phosphacan, a major soluble CS proteoglycan [
12,
35]. Pleiotrophin binding to RPTPβ/ζ depends on the CS portion of this receptor, and the removal of CS results in a remarkable decrease in binding affinity [
36]. However, treatment of cells with chondroitinase had no effect on the binding of P(122-131) to DU145 cells, suggesting that P(122-131) does not bind to the RPTPβ/ζ-derived glycosaminoglycans, in spite of its basicity [
29]. Our results demonstrate that P(122-131) actions are mediated by RPTPβ/ζ. P(122-131) was co localized with RPTPβ/ζ at the cell surface and eventually become cytoplasmic, likely as a result of endocytosis. Moreover, immunoprecipitation followed by Western blotting confirms the interaction between P(122-131) and RPTPβ/ζ [
29].
RPTPβ/ζ is a receptor phosphatase with intrinsic catalytic activity [
30]. In a previous study, we showed that pleiotrophin/RPTPβ/ζ interaction leads to different biological responses according to RPTPβ/ζ substrates. Pleiotrophin/RPTPβ/ζ-Src interaction reduces the phosphorylation levels of Src, Fak, Pten, and Erk
1/
2, and inhibits cellular adhesion and migration (unpublished data). Investigation of the transduction mechanism revealed that P(122-131) induced Src, Fak, and Erk
1/
2 inactivation in a concentration and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, P(122-131) activated Pten, a tumor suppressor which activity has been proposed to reduce cell migration and proliferation [
37,
38].
The finding that the inhibitory effect of P(122-131) on cellular adhesion and migration could be reduced by down-regulation of pleiotrophin or RPTPβ/ζ expression, demonstrates that this peptide not only ineracts with RPTPβ/ζ and inhibits cellular adhesion and migration, but also antagonizes the interaction of pleiotrophin with its others receptors. P(122-131) interference with other pleiotrophin receptors was confirmed by the finding that P(122-131) induced Src and Fak inactivation on cells with RPTPβ/ζ knockdown. Furthermore, we excluded the possibility of P(122-131) interference with other growth factors, since the peptide did not exert any biological action on cells that the expression levels of both pleiotrophin and RPTPβ/ζ are down-regulated.
Our results also showed that P(122-131) inhibits anchorage-independent proliferation, but the effect of RPTPβ/ζ knockdown was so strong that we cannot draw any conclusion about the mechanism through which the peptide inhibits this biological action. It is known that RPTPs show structural and functional similarity to CAMs. Although certain RPTPs mediate homophilic interactions [
39], there are no data indicating that RPTPβ/ζ is implicated in such interactions.
Methods
Materials
Standard Boc amino acids, p-methylbenzhydrylamine-polystyrene resin (0.81 mmol NH2/g), and O-(benzotriazol-1-yl)-1,1,3,3-tetramethyluronium hexafluorophosphate (HBTU) were purchased from Senn Chemicals. Solvents (peptide synthesis grade) and other reagents were obtained from Applied Biosystems. Cell culture reagents were from BiochromKG (Seromed, Germany). All other reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich.
Polyclonal antibodies against pSrc (Tyr416), pFak (Tyr925), pPten (Ser380), pAkt (Ser473), and pErk1/2 (Thr202/Tyr204), as well as monoclonal antibodies against Src (36D10) were purchased from Cell Signaling Technology. Polyclonal antibodies against HSC70 were purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc. Monoclonal anti-RPTPβ/ζ antibodies were from BD Transduction Laboratories (San Diego, CA), and actin polyclonal antibody was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich.
Cell culture
The human prostate cancer epithelial cell lines DU145 and LNCaP (ATCC) were grown in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), 100 U/ml penicillin, and 100 μg/ml streptomycin. Cultures were maintained in 5% CO2 and 100% humidity at 37°C.
Peptide synthesis and characterization
P(122-131) (KKKKKEGKKQ) and B(122-131) [Biot-G4-P(122-131)] peptides were produced as previously described, having no cytotoxic effect [
29]. The control peptide (5K) (KKKKK) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Saint-Quentin Fallavier, France).
Adhesion assay
24-well culture plates were coated with 10 μg/ml fibronectin for 1 h at 37°C. Wells were then incubated with a 0.5% solution of bovine serum albumin (BSA) for 1 h at 37°C to block further non specific adsorption of protein. 50.000 resuspended cells in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 2.5% FBS were then seeded. After a 10-min incubation period unattached cells were removed by shaking the plates at 2.000 rpm for 10 sec, and by three washes with PBS. Attached cells were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde and stained with crystal violet.
Crystal Violet assay
Adherent cells were fixed with methanol and stained with 0.5% crystal violet in 20% methanol for 20 min. After gentle rinsing with water, the retained dye was extracted with 30% acetic acid, and the absorbance was measured at 590 nm.
Soft agar growth assay
Anchorage-independent growth was assessed by measuring the formation of colonies in soft agar. Twelve-well plates were layered with bottom agar, which consisted of growth medium containing 10% FBS and 0.8% agar. After the bottom agar had solidified, 2000 cells were resuspended in growth medium containing 10% FBS, 0.3% agar, and peptide, then seeded onto the bottom agar. The top agar was then allowed to solidify, and standard growth media supplemented with peptide was added to each well. The cells were incubated at 37°C, in 5% CO2 for 12 days. Cell colonies larger than 50 μm were quantified by counting the entire area of each well.
Transwell assay
Migration assays were performed in Boyden chambers using filters (8 μm pore size, Costar, Avon, France) coated with fibronectin (7,5 μg/cm2) for 1 h at 37°C. Filters were washed, blocked with 0.5% BSA for 1 h at 37°C, and dried. Assay medium (RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 2.5% FBS, and 0.5% BSA, with or without the chemo attractant) was added to the lower compartment, and 104 cells were added into the insert. After incubation for 30 min at 37°C, filters were fixed. Non-migrated cells were scrapped off the upper side of the filter, and filters were stained with crystal violet. Number of migrated cells was quantified by counting the entire area of the filter.
Chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay
The
in vivo CAM angiogenesis model was used as previously detailed [
10].
Immunofluorescence confocal microscopy
DU145 cells grown in 8-well tissue culture slides (Nunc) were incubated with 100 μΜ biotinylated P(122-131) (B(122-131)) or with pleiotrophin at 4°C for the indicated time. The cells were then fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde for 10 min at room temperature, rinsed three times with PBS, quenched with 50 mM Tris buffer pH 8.0 and 100 mM NaCl, permeabilized for 15 min in PBS containing 0.3% Triton X-100 and 0.5% bovine serum albumin (BSA), and blocked in PBS containing 3% BSA for 1 h at room temperature. Cells were incubated for 1 h with streptavidin-FITC (1:100), anti-RPTPβ/ζ antibody (1:100), and rhodamine-conjugated goat anti-mouse IgG (1:600) in permeabilization buffer. After three rinses in PBS, cells were mounted using Sigma mounting fluid. Labelling was observed using a Nikon confocal microscope and photographed.
Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for RPTPβ/ζ, pleiotrophin, and GAPDH
Total RNA was extracted using the Nucleospin RNA II kit (Macherey-Nagel, Germany), according to the manufacturer's instructions. The integrity of he isolated RNA was examined by electrophoresis on a 1% agarose gel containing 0.5 mg/ml ethidium bromide. Specific primers were as follows: hRPTPβ/ζ, 5"-TTCTGTGCTCTGACAACCCTTA-3" and 5"-AGGAAGAGGAAAACAATGCTCA-3"; hpleiotrophin, 5"-GAGCGCCAGAGAGGACGTTT-3" and 5"-TCCTGTTTGCTGATGTCCTTTT-3" hGAPDH, 5"-CCACCCATGGCAAATTCCATGGCA-3" and 5"-TCTAGACGGCAGGTCAGGTCCACC-3". The RT-PCR reactions were performed in a single step with 250 ng of total RNA, using the Qiagen RT-PCR system. The RT-PCR products were subjected to electrophoresis on 1% agarose gel containing 0.5 mg/ml ethidium bromide, digitally photographed, and quantified using image analysis software (Scion Image PC, Scion Corporation, Frederick, MD).
Pleiotrophin-antisense RNA transfection
Stable transfection of DU145 to down-regulate pleiotrophin expression was performed as previously described [
23]. Briefly, full length cDNA for pleiotrophin was subcloned at EcoRI site in pcDNA3.1+ expression vector (In Vitrogen, Cergy Pontoise, France) in antisense orientation. DU145 cells were seeded in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 10% FBS. 24 h later, cells were transfected with the Transfast™ Reagent (Promega Corperation) according to the manufacturer's instructions. The ratio of Transfast™ Reagent to DNA was 2:1. After 1 month of selection with 300 μg/ml G418, clones were screened for down-regulation of pleiotrophin expression. The pcDNA3.1+ expression vector was used as a negative control.
siRNA transfection
RNA oligonucleotide primers and the siPORT NeoFX Transfection Agent were obtained from Ambion Inc. The following sequences were used: siRNA1 RPTPβ/ζ sense, 5"-AAAUGCGAAUCCUAAAGCGUU-3"; siRNA1 RPTPβ/ζ antisense, 5"-AACGCUUUAGGAUUCGCAUUU-3", siRNA2 RPTPβ/ζ sense 5"-GCGACCAACUGAUUGUCGGA-3"; siRNA2 RPTPβ/ζ antisense, 5"-UCGACAAUCAGUUGGUCGC-3". The annealing of the primers and the transfection was performed according to Ambion's instructions. Briefly, siPORT NeoFX and siRNA were mixed at a final ratio of 1:10 in OPTI-MEM media. The transfection complexes were then overlaid onto 6-well plate cultures grown in RPMI-1640 supplemented with 10% FBS. Transfection efficiency was evaluated using Silencer FAM Labelled GAPDH siRNA (Ambion). Negative control siRNAs from Ambion was also used.
shRNA transfection
Stable transfection of DU145 cells using shRNA targeting RPTPβ/ζ expression was performed using the pSilencer 4.1-CMV expression vector and the siPORT XP-1 Transfection Agent obtained from Ambion Inc. Based on the siRNA sequence, shRNA was designed, ligated into the pSilencer 4.1-CMV expression vector and transfected into cells according to Ambion's instructions. Briefly, siPORT XP-1 and shRNA were mixed at a final ratio of 1:6 in OPTI-MEM media. The transfection complexes were then overlaid onto 24-well plate cultures grown in RPMI-1640 supplemented with 10% FBS. After 1 month of selection with 300 μg/ml G418, clones were screened for down-regulation of RPTPβ/ζ expression. Double-stranded negative control shRNA from Ambion was also used.
Immunoprecipitation
Media from DU145 cultures grown in 60 mm plastic dishes were aspirated, cells were washed twice with ice-cold PBS, and cells were lysed in 1 ml buffer containing 50 mM HEPES pH 7.0, 150 mM NaCl, 10 mM EDTA, 1% Triton X-100, 1% Nonidet P-40, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 1 mM sodium orthovanadate, 5 μg/ml aprotinin, and 5 μg/ml leupeptin. Cells were harvested, sonicated for 4 min on ice, and centrifuged at 20.000 g for 10 min at 4°C. Approximately 400 μg of the supernatant was then incubated with 30 μl of protein A-Sepharose bead suspension for 60 min at room temperature. Beads were collected by centrifugation, and the supernatants were incubated overnight at 4°C with anti-RPTPβ/ζ (1:200) or anti-Src (1:1000) primary antibodies. The mixtures were then incubated with 80 μl protein A-Sepharose beads for 3 h at 4°C. The beads and bound proteins were collected by centrifugation (10.000 g, 4°C), washed three times with ice-cold lysis buffer, and resuspended in 60 μl 2× SDS loading buffer (100 mM Tris-HCl pH 6.8, 4% SDS, 0.2% bromphenol blue, 20% glycerol, 0.1 M dithiothreitol). Samples were then heated to 95-100°C for 5 min and centrifuged. Fifty microliters of the supernatant were analyzed by Western blotting.
Western blot analysis
Cells were starved for 4 h, then incubated with P(122-131) for varying times. Cells were subsequently washed twice with PBS and lysed in 250 μl 2× SDS loading buffer under reducing conditions. Proteins were separated by SDS-PAGE and transferred to an Immobilon-P membrane for 3 h in 48 mM Tris pH 8.3, 39 mM glycine, 0.037% SDS, and 20% methanol. The membrane was blocked in TBS containing 5% non-fat milk and 0.1% Tween 20 for 1 h at 37°C. Membranes were then probed with primary antibody overnight at 4°C under continuous agitation. Anti-RPTPβ/ζ antibody was used at a 1:500 dilution. All other antibodies were used at a 1:1000 dilution. The blot was then incubated with the appropriate secondary antibody coupled to horseradish peroxidase, and bands were detected with the ChemiLucent Detection System Kit (Chemicon International Inc., CA), according to the manufacturer's instructions. Where indicated, blots were stripped in buffer containing 62.5 mM Tris HCl pH 6.8, 2% SDS, 100 mM 2-mercaptoethanol for 30 min at 50°C and reprobed. Quantitative estimation of band size and intensity was performed through analysis of digital images using the ImagePC image analysis software (Scion Corporation, Frederick, MD).
Statistical analysis
Comparisons of the mean values among groups was performed by means of ANOVA and unpaired Student t-test. Homogeneity of variances was tested by Levene's test. Each experiment included at least triplicate measurements for each condition tested. All results are expressed as mean ± SE. from at least three independent experiments. Values of p less than 0.05 were accepted as significant (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001).
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors' contributions
All authors participated in the design of the study. ZD performed all experiments and drafted the manuscript. All authors read, revised, and approved the final manuscript.