Objective. To document the activity profile of transcription factors following chondrocyte stimulation with hyaluronan (HA) hexasaccharides (HA 6 ) and to determine the expression of genes whose transcriptional activation is tightly associated with the transcription factors.Methods. Nuclear extracts from bovine articular chondrocytes treated with HA 6 were subjected to transcription factor protein-DNA array analysis. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) analyses were performed to confirm the results of protein-DNA array. The gene expressions of matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP-3), type II collagen, and cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) were examined by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and protease activity was assessed by casein zymography.Results. In the protein-DNA array analysis, 12 transcription factors were up-regulated and 2 transcription factors were down-regulated in the chondrocytes treated with HA 6 . The transcription factors retinoic acid receptor (RAR), retinoid X receptor (RXR), and Sp-1 exhibited >2-fold increased activity by HA 6 treatment, as confirmed by EMSA. RT-PCR analysis showed that the expression levels of MMP-3, type II collagen, and COMP messenger RNA, which are tightly associated with the activation of RAR, RXR, or Sp-1, were upregulated by treatment with HA 6 . Addition of high molecular mass HA after HA 6 treatment resulted in abrogation of the MMP-3 induction.
Conclusion.These results suggest that HA 6 increase the activity of multiple transcription factors in chondrocytes and signal the enhanced expression of key genes involved in cartilage-matrix remodeling and turnover. The data also demonstrate that high molecular mass HA has a potential to suppress the signaling activated by HA 6 .The glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan (HA) is a critical component of the extracellular matrix of articular cartilage. HA serves as a scaffold for the aggregation of cartilage proteoglycan (1) and, in this manner, forms a continuum of structure throughout the extracellular matrix. In addition, we have shown that HA facilitates the anchorage of these proteoglycan aggregates to the chondrocyte cell surface via its interaction with the membrane HA receptor CD44 (2-4). Thus, it is, in part, the interaction of chondrocytes directly with HA that constitutes the cell-matrix interaction that serves to regulate many aspects of chondrocyte metabolism (5). We have shown previously that one method of interference with the cell-matrix interactions of chondrocytes is through the use of excess small HA oligosaccharides, such as HA hexasaccharides (HA 6 ) (2,4,6). HA 6 compete with high molecular mass HA for CD44 binding; yet, they are too small in size to interfere with HA aggrecan or HA-link protein interactions (1,7,8).The consequences of this loss of cell-matrix interactions can be dramatic. In a previous study, we demonstrated that the addition of small HA oligosaccharides to human or bovine articular cartilage slices resulted in the apparent activation o...