Project description:During homeostasis, hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are mostly kept in quiescence with only minor contribution to steady-state hematopoiesis. However, in stress situations such as infection, chemotherapy, or transplantation, HSCs are forced to proliferate and rapidly regenerate compromised hematopoietic cells. Little is known about the processes regulating this stress-induced proliferation and expansion of HSCs and progenitors. In this study, we identified the extracellular matrix (ECM) adaptor protein Matrilin-4 (Matn4) as an important negative regulator of the HSC stress response. Matn4 is highly expressed in long-term HSCs; however, it is not required for HSC maintenance under homeostasis. In contrast, Matn4 is strongly down-regulated in HSCs in response to proliferative stress, and Matn4 deficiency results in increased proliferation and expansion of HSCs and progenitors after myelosuppressive chemotherapy, inflammatory stress, and transplantation. This enhanced proliferation is mediated by a transient down-regulation of CXCR4 in Matn4(-/-) HSCs upon stress, allowing for a more efficient expansion of HSCs. Thus, we have uncovered a novel link between the ECM protein Matn4 and cytokine receptor CXCR4 involved in the regulation of HSC proliferation and expansion under acute stress.
Project description:Visual processing depends on sensitive and balanced synaptic neurotransmission. Extracellular matrix proteins in the environment of cells are key modulators in synaptogenesis and synaptic plasticity. In the present study, we provide evidence that the combined loss of the four extracellular matrix components brevican, neurocan, tenascin-C and tenascin-R in quadruple knockout mice leads to severe retinal dysfunction and diminished visual motion processing in vivo. Remarkably, impaired visual motion processing was accompanied by a developmental loss of cholinergic direction-selective starburst amacrine cells. Additionally, we noted imbalance of inhibitory and excitatory synaptic signaling in the quadruple knockout retina. Collectively, the study offers novel insights into the functional importance of four key extracellular matrix proteins for retinal function, visual motion processing and synaptic signaling.
Project description:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) is essential for tissue patterning and organization. It involves both regulation of cell motility and alterations in the composition and organization of the extracellular matrix (ECM); a complex environment of proteoglycans and fibrous proteins that promotes tissue homeostasis, regulates signaling in response to chemical and biomechanical stimuli and is often dysregulated in diseases such as cancer and fibrosis. Here, we demonstrate that Basonuclin-2 (BNC2), a mesenchymal-expressed gene that has been widely associated with cancer and developmental defects by genome-wide association study (GWAS), is a novel regulator of ECM composition and degradation. We find that at endogenous levels, BNC2 controls the expression of specific collagens, matrix metalloproteases and other matrisomal components in breast cancer cells, and in fibroblasts that are primarily responsible for the deposition and processing of the ECM within the tumour microenvironment. In so doing, BNC2 modulates the motile and invasive properties of cancers which likely explains the association of high BNC2 expression with increasing cancer grade and poor patient prognosis.