Recent studies have shown that a carbohydrate-binding protein, galectin-3, is a novel pro-angiogenic molecule. The mechanism by which galectin-3 promotes angiogenesis remains unknown. We demonstrate here that galectin-3 is a mediator of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)- and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)-mediated angiogenic response. Angiogenesis assays revealed that galectin-3 inhibitors, β-lactose and dominant-negative galectin-3, reduce VEGF- and bFGF-mediated angiogenesis in vitro and that VEGF- and bFGF-mediated angiogenic response is reduced in galectin-3 knockdown cells and Gal3−/− animals. Integrin αvβ3 was identified as the major galectin-3–binding protein and anti-αv, -β3, and -αvβ3 integrin function-blocking antibodies significantly inhibited the galectin-3–induced angiogenesis. Furthermore, galectin-3 promoted the clustering of integrin αvβ3 and activated focal adhesion kinase. Knockdown of GnTV, an enzyme that synthesizes high-affinity glycan ligands for galectin-3, substantially reduced: (a) complex N-glycans on αvβ3 integrins and (b) VEGF- and bFGF-mediated angiogenesis. Collectively, these data suggest that galectin-3 modulates VEGF- and bFGF-mediated angiogenesis by binding via its carbohydrate recognition domain, to the GnTV synthesized N-glycans of integrin αvβ3, and subsequently activating the signaling pathways that promote the growth of new blood vessels. These findings have broad implications for developing novel, carbohydrate-based therapeutic agents for inhibition of angiogenesis.

Angiogenesis is heavily influenced by VEGF-A and its family of receptors, particularly VEGF receptor 2 (VEGF-R2). Like most cell surface proteins, VEGF-R2 is glycosylated, although the function of VEGF-R2 with respect to its glycosylation pattern is poorly characterized. Galectin-3, a glycan binding protein, interacts with the EGF and TGF␤ receptors, retaining them on the plasma membrane and altering their signal transduction. Because VEGF-R2 is glycosylated and both galectin-3 and VEGF-R2 are involved with angiogenesis, we hypothesized that galectin-3 binds VEGF-R2 and modulates its signal transduction as well. Employing a Western blot analysis approach, we found that galectin-3 induces phosphorylation of VEGF-R2 in endothelial cells. Knockdown of galectin-3 and Mgat5, an enzyme that synthesizes high-affinity glycan ligands of galectin-3, reduced VEGF-A mediated angiogenesis in vitro. A direct interaction on the plasma membrane was detected between galectin-3 and VEGF-R2, and this interaction was dependent on the expression of Mgat5. Using immunofluorescence and cell surface labeling, we found an increase in the level of internalized VEGF-R2 in both Mgat5 and galectin-3 knockdown cells, suggesting that galectin-3 retains the receptor on the plasma membrane. Finally, we observed reduced suture-induced neovascularization in the corneas of Gal3 ؊/؊ and Mgat5 ؊/؊ mice. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that, like its role with the EGF and TGF␤ receptors, galectin-3 contributes to the plasma membrane retention and proangiogenic function of VEGF-R2.

Many proteins are built from structurally and functionally distinct and domains. A major goal is to understand how conformational change transmits information between domains in order to achieve biological activity. A two-domain, bi-functional fusion protein has been designed so that the mechanical stress imposed by the folded structure of one subunit causes the other subunit to unfold, and vice versa. The construct consists of ubiquitin inserted into a surface loop of barnase. The distance between the amino and carboxyl ends of ubiquitin is much greater than the distance between the termini of the barnase loop. This topological constraint causes the two domains to engage in a thermodynamic tug-of-war in which only one can exist in its folded state at any given time. This conformational equilibrium, which is cooperative, reversible, and controllable by ligand binding, serves as a model for the coupled binding and folding mechanism widely used to mediate protein-protein interactions and cellular signaling processes. The position of the equilibrium can be adjusted by temperature or ligand binding and is monitored in vivo by cell death. This design forms the basis for a new class of cytotoxic proteins that can be activated by cell-specific effector molecules, and can thus target particular cell types for destruction. Keywords molecular switch; unfolding; natively unfolded; allostery Proteins often display modular architecture that combines protein or small molecule interaction domains with catalytic domains. In such cases, the domains must be coupled, both functionally and structurally, for the protein to attain overall biological activity. For example, ligand binding or phosphorylation can induce structural changes within a regulatory domain that then trigger activity in a catalytic domain. A related type of switching mechanism is illustrated by the recent discovery of proteins that are unstructured in physiological conditions but fold upon binding to their cellular targets. 1,2 Examples include elongin C 3,4 and the GTPase-binding domain of the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein. 5 In these instances, the folding/unfolding of a regulatory domain modulates function of the intact protein via propagation of structural changes. Protein folding makes a particularly effective functional switch because it is reversible and inherently cooperative. Understanding the molecular basis for this type of mechanism is important because it is widely used to regulate protein-protein interactions and in signaling pathways that control cellular behavior. The system consists of a fusion protein in which human ubiquitin (Ub) is inserted into a surface loop of the ribonuclease barnase (Bn) from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. These proteins were chosen for the following reasons. First, Bn is extremely lethal to both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. It is able to be synthesized in B. amyloliquefaciens only because it is co-expressed with its intracellular inhibitor barstar (Bs). 7 This cytotoxic property allows the enzymatic activity...

No abstract

No abstract