Keratan sulfate

About: Keratan sulfate is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1253 publications have been published within this topic receiving 57984 citations. The topic is also known as: keratan sulfate & KS.

Lumican, a small leucine-rich proteoglycan substituted with keratan sulfate chains is expressed and secreted by human melanoma cells and not normal melanocytes

Abstract: Melanoma is a frequent and therapy-resistant human disease. Malignant melanocytes modulate their microenvironment in order to penetrate the dermal/epidermal junction and eventually invade the dermis. The small leucine-rich proteoglycans (SLRPs) constitute important constituents of the dermis extracellular matrix (ECM), participating in both the structural and the functional organization of the skin. The role of a keratan sulphate SLRP lumican, has recently been investigated in the growth and metastasis of several cancers. In this study, the expression of lumican was studied in two human melanoma cell lines (WM9, M5) as well as in normal neonatal human melanocytes (HEMN) using real time PCR, western blotting with antibodies against the protein core and keratan sulfate, and treatments with specific enzymes. Both human metastatic melanoma cell lines were found to express lumican mRNA and effectively secrete lumican in a proteoglycan form, characterized to be substituted mostly with keratan sulfate chains. Lumican mRNA was not detected in normal melanocytes. This is the first time that the synthesis and secretion of lumican in human melanoma cell lines is reported. The role of this proteoglycan in the development and progression of malignant melanoma has to be further investigated.

Three-dimensional culture of human meniscal cells: extracellular matrix and proteoglycan production.

Abstract: The meniscus is a complex tissue whose cell biology has only recently begun to be explored. Published models rely upon initial culture in the presence of added growth factors. The aim of this study was to test a three-dimensional (3D) collagen sponge microenvironment (without added growth factors) for its ability to provide a microenvironment supportive for meniscal cell extracellular matrix (ECM) production, and to test the responsiveness of cells cultured in this manner to transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β). Experimental studies were approved prospectively by the authors' Human Subjects Institutional Review Board. Human meniscal cells were isolated from surgical specimens, established in monolayer culture, seeded into a 3D scaffold, and cell morphology and extracellular matrix components (ECM) evaluated either under control condition or with addition of TGF-β. Outcome variables were evaluation of cultured cell morphology, quantitative measurement of total sulfated proteoglycan production, and immunohistochemical study of the ECM components chondroitin sulfate, keratan sulfate, and types I and II collagen. Meniscal cells attached well within the 3D microenvironment and expanded with culture time. The 3D microenvironment was permissive for production of chondroitin sulfate, types I and II collagen, and to a lesser degree keratan sulfate. This microenvironment was also permissive for growth factor responsiveness, as indicated by a significant increase in proteoglycan production when cells were exposed to TGF-β (2.48 μg/ml ± 1.00, mean ± S.D., vs control levels of 1.58 ± 0.79, p < 0.0001). Knowledge of how culture microenvironments influence meniscal cell ECM production is important; the collagen sponge culture methodology provides a useful in vitro tool for study of meniscal cell biology.