Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a highly specific mitogen for vascular endothelial cells. Five VEGF isoforms are generated as a result of alternative splicing from a single VEGF gene. These isoforms differ in their molecular mass and in biological properties such as their ability to bind to cell-surface heparan-sulfate proteoglycans. The expression of VEGF is potentiated in response to hypoxia, by activated oncogenes, and by a variety of cytokines. VEGF induces endothelial cell proliferation, promotes cell migration, and inhibits apoptosis. In vivo VEGF induces angiogenesis as well as permeabilization of blood vessels, and plays a central role in the regulation of vasculogenesis. Deregulated VEGF expression contributes to the development of solid tumors by promoting tumor angiogenesis and to the etiology of several additional diseases that are characterized by abnormal angiogenesis. Consequently, inhibition of VEGF signaling abrogates the development of a wide variety of tumors. The various VEGF forms bind to two tyrosine-kinase receptors, VEGFR-1 (flt-1) and VEGFR-2 (KDR/flk-1), which are expressed almost exclusively in endothelial cells. Endothelial cells express in addition the neuropilin-1 and neuropilin-2 coreceptors, which bind selectively to the 165 amino acid form of VEGF (VEGF165). This review focuses on recent developments that have widened considerably our understanding of the mechanisms that control VEGF production and VEGF signal transduction and on recent studies that have shed light on the mechanisms by which VEGF regulates angiogenesis.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptors

We have used the pH-induced self-assembly of a peptide-amphiphile to make a nanostructured fibrous scaffold reminiscent of extracellular matrix. The design of this peptide-amphiphile allows the nanofibers to be reversibly cross-linked to enhance or decrease their structural integrity. After cross-linking, the fibers are able to direct mineralization of hydroxyapatite to form a composite material in which the crystallographic c axes of hydroxyapatite are aligned with the long axes of the fibers. This alignment is the same as that observed between collagen fibrils and hydroxyapatite crystals in bone.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/294/5547/1684.full.pdf

Self-assembly and mineralization of peptide-amphiphile nanofibers

The production of natural antibiotic peptides has emerged as an important mechanism of innate immunity in plants and animals. Defensins are diverse members of a large family of antimicrobial peptides, contributing to the antimicrobial action of granulocytes, mucosal host defence in the small intestine and epithelial host defence in the skin and elsewhere. This review, inspired by a spate of recent studies of defensins in human diseases and animal models, focuses on the biological function of defensins.

Defensins: antimicrobial peptides of innate immunity.

The heparan sulfate on the surface of all adherent cells modulates the actions of a large number of extracellular ligands. Members of both cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycan families, the transmembrane syndecans and the glycosylphosphoinositide-linked glypicans, bind these ligands and enhance formation of their receptor-signaling complexes. These heparan sulfate proteoglycans also immobilize and regulate the turnover of ligands that act at the cell surface. The extracellular domains of these proteoglycans can be shed from the cell surface, generating soluble heparan sulfate proteoglycans that can inhibit interactions at the cell surface. Recent analyses of genetic defects in Drosophila melanogaster, mice, and humans confirm most of these activities in vivo and identify additional processes that involve cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans. This chapter focuses on the mechanisms underlying these activities and on the cellular functions that they regulate.

Functions of Cell Surface Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans

Antimicrobial host defense peptides are produced by all complex organisms as well as some microbes and have diverse and complex antimicrobial activities. Collectively these peptides demonstrate a broad range of antiviral and antibacterial activities and modes of action, and it is important to distinguish between direct microbicidal and indirect activities against such pathogens. The structural requirements of peptides for antiviral and antibacterial activities are evaluated in light of the diverse set of primary and secondary structures described for host defense peptides. Peptides with antifungal and antiparasitic activities are discussed in less detail, although the broad-spectrum activities of such peptides indicate that they are important host defense molecules. Knowledge regarding the relationship between peptide structure and function as well as their mechanism of action is being applied in the design of antimicrobial peptide variants as potential novel therapeutic agents.

Peptide Antimicrobial Agents

Dengue virus is a human pathogen that has reemerged as an increasingly important public health threat. We found that the cellular receptor utilized by dengue envelope protein to bind to target cells is a highly sulfated type of heparan sulfate. Heparin, highly sulfated heparan sulfate, and the polysulfonate pharmaceutical Suramin effectively prevented dengue virus infection of target cells, indicating that the envelope protein-target cell receptor interaction is a critical determinant of infectivity. The dengue envelope protein sequence includes two putative glycosaminoglycan-binding motifs at the carboxy terminus; the first could be structurally modeled and formed an unusual extended binding surface of basic amino acids. Similar motifs were also identified in the envelope proteins of other flaviviridae. Developing pharmaceuticals that inhibit target cell binding may be an effective strategy for treating flavivirus infections.

Dengue virus infectivity depends on envelope protein binding to target cell heparan sulfate

Crystal structures of heparin-derived tetra- and hexasaccharides complexed with basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) were determined at resolutions of 1.9 and 2.2 angstroms, respectively. The heparin structure may be approximated as a helical polymer with a disaccharide rotation of 174° and a translation of 8.6 angstroms along the helix axis. Both molecules bound similarly to a region of the bFGF surface containing residues asparagine-28, arginine-121, lysine-126, and glutamine-135; the hexasaccharide also interacted with an additional binding site formed by lysine-27, asparagine-102, and lysine-136. No significant conformational change in bFGF occurred upon heparin oligosaccharide binding, which suggests that heparin primarily serves to juxtapose components of the FGF signal transduction pathway.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/271/5252/1116.full.pdf

Heparin structure and interactions with basic fibroblast growth factor.

Although interactions of proteins with glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), such as heparin and heparan sulphate, are of great biological importance, structural requirements for protein-GAG binding have not been well-characterised. Ionic interactions are important in promoting protein-GAG binding. Polyelectrolyte theory suggests that much of the free energy of binding comes from entropically favourable release of cations from GAG chains. Despite their identical charges, arginine residues bind more tightly to GAGs than lysine residues. The spacing of these residues may determine protein-GAG affinity and specificity. Consensus sequences such as XBBBXXBX, XBBXBX and a critical 20 A spacing of basic residues are found in some protein sites that bind GAG. A new consensus sequence TXXBXXTBXXXTBB is described, where turns bring basic interacting amino acid residues into proximity. Clearly, protein-GAG interactions play a prominent role in cell-cell interaction and cell growth. Pathogens including virus particles might target GAG-binding sites in envelope proteins leading to infection.

http://www-heparin.rpi.edu/main/files/papers/184.pdf

Glycosaminoglycan‐protein interactions: definition of consensus sites in glycosaminoglycan binding proteins

http://www-heparin.rpi.edu/main/files/papers/141.pdf

Differences in the Interaction of Heparin with Arginine and Lysine and the Importance of these Basic Amino Acids in the Binding of Heparin to Acidic Fibroblast Growth Factor

The binding of human acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF) to heparin has been analyzed by a variety of different approaches to better elucidate the nature of this protein/sulfated polysaccharide interaction. Static and dynamic light scattering as well as analytical ultracentrifugation analyses indicates that 14-15 molecules of a FGF can bind to a 16-kDa heparin chain, with approximately 10 of these bound relatively uniformly to high-affinity sites. The dissociation constants of these latter sites are estimated to be approximately 50-140 nM on the basis of surface plasmon resonance experiments in which the association and dissociation rates of aFGF interaction with immobilized heparin were measured. The size of the binding site of a FGF on heparin was also determined by heparin lyase digestion of a FGF/heparin complexes followed by isolation and characterization of protected oligosaccharides. The smallest aFGF-protected oligosaccharide comigrated with delta UA2S(1-->4)-alpha-D-GlcNp2S6S(1-->4)-alpha-L-IdoAp-2S( 1-->4)-alpha-D-GlcNp2S6S (where delta UA represents 4-deoxy-alpha-L-threo-hex-4-enopyranosyluronic acid and S is sulfate). Thus, aFGF appears to bind at high density (one molecule every 4-5 polysaccharide units) and with high affinity to heparin. This potentially provides a concentrated, stabilized storage form of the growth factor that can be released for receptor-mediated cellular activation in response to the proper stimuli. It is also possible that close proximity of aFGF molecules on the highly sulfated regions of heparan chains may be involved in the induction of receptor aggregation as suggested by Ornitz et al. [Ornitz, D. M., Yayon, A., Flanagan, J. G., Svahn, C. M., Levi, E., & Leder, P. (1992) Mol. Cell. Biol. 12, 240-247].

Jonathan R. Fromm

Papers

Dengue virus infectivity depends on envelope protein binding to target cell heparan sulfate

Heparin structure and interactions with basic fibroblast growth factor.

Glycosaminoglycan‐protein interactions: definition of consensus sites in glycosaminoglycan binding proteins

Differences in the Interaction of Heparin with Arginine and Lysine and the Importance of these Basic Amino Acids in the Binding of Heparin to Acidic Fibroblast Growth Factor

Nature of the interaction of heparin with acidic fibroblast growth factor