The expression and function of cystatin C and cathepsin B and cathepsin L during mouse embryo implantation and placentation

Development ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 124 (17) ◽  
pp. 3415-3425
Author(s):  
S. Afonso ◽  
L. Romagnano ◽  
B. Babiarz

The implantation of the mouse embryo requires the controlled invasion of the uterine stroma by the embryonic trophoblast. This event is dependent, in part, on the secretion of matrix metalloproteinases and serine proteinases for the extracellular degradation of the uterine matrix. Proteinase activity is controlled by stromal decidualization and specific proteinase inhibitors. This work adds to our understanding of implantation and placentation by reporting the expression and function of another class of proteinases/inhibitors closely related to invasive cell behavior. We focused on the cysteine proteinases, cathepsins B and L, and their inhibitor cystatin C. Northern blots showed that trophoblast expressed cathepsin B throughout the invasive period (days 5.5-10.5). Both cathepsin B message and cathepsin L protein were localized to the mature, invasive trophoblast giant cells. Substrate gel electrophoresis showed an increase in giant cell cathepsin activity with enzyme profiles changing at the end of the invasive period. Northern and western blotting showed that cystatin C, the main inhibitor of cathepsins, was a major product of the decidualizing stroma. Message levels first increased in peripheral decidualizing cells, with the protein localizing close to the embryo during implantation (days 5.5-8.5). With the regression of the decidua beginning on day 9.5, a coordinated upregulation of both cathepsin B and cystatin C was observed implying a role for controlled cathepsin expression during apoptosis. E-64, a synthetic inhibitor of cathepsins B and L, was injected into pregnant females at the stage of blastocyst attachment (days 4.5-5.5). High doses resulted in the complete failure of implantation while lower doses resulted in stunted embryos and a reduced decidual reaction. These results suggested that cathepsins B and L are necessary for normal embryo development and uterine decidualization, and that decidua contributes to their control by a coordinated expression of cystatin C within the implantation site.

1981 ◽  
Vol 196 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
S E Knowles ◽  
F J Ballard ◽  
G Livesey ◽  
K E Williams

1. The effects of leupeptin and other microbial proteinase inhibitors were measured in rat yolk sacs on the uptake and degradation of formaldehyde-denatured 125I-labelled bovine serum albumin as well as on the degradation of 3H-labelled endogenous protein. 2. Leupeptin, at concentrations between 1 and 100 micrograms/ml, inhibits the degradation of added albumin without affecting pinocytic uptake. Accordingly large amounts of undegraded albumin accumulate within the tissue. 3. Removal of leupeptin produces a rapid recovery of the capacity to degrade albumin. 4. Endogenous protein degradation is rapidly inhibited by leupeptin, but to a far lesser extent than the breakdown of albumin. However, the inhibition is only slightly reversed on removal of leupeptin. 5. Degradation of both albumin and endogenous protein in intact yolk sacs is inhibited by the microbial proteinase inhibitors in the order: leupeptin greater than antipain greater than chymostatin; elastatinal, pepstatin and bestatin are ineffective. 6. Similar results are found when albumin is incubated in yolk-sac homogenates at pH 4 with the inhibitors. 7. The marked inhibitory effects of leupeptin, antipain and chymostatin suggest that cathepsin B and possibly cathepsin L participate in the degradation of 125I-labelled albumin in yolk sacs. By comparison, the smaller inhibitory effects of the proteinase inhibitors on endogenous protein breakdown imply a minor role of lysosomal cathepsins in this process.


2000 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 312-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kriegsmann ◽  
T. Hansen ◽  
P.K. Petrow ◽  
A. Gaumann ◽  
G. Keyszer ◽  
...  

2010 ◽  
Vol 112 (5) ◽  
pp. 940-950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara T. Lah ◽  
Isabelle Nanni ◽  
Miha Trinkaus ◽  
Philipe Metellus ◽  
Christophe Dussert ◽  
...  

Object The first aim of this study was to diagnose more aggressive and potentially recurrent meningiomas using an in vitro embryonic chick heart invasiveness assay in which lysosomal enzyme cathepsin B was used as the invasiveness marker. The second aim was to confirm if cathepsin B and/or cathepsin L and their endogenous inhibitors were also prognostic parameters in the clinical study of 119 patients with meningioma. Methods Primary meningioma cultured spheroids were “confronted” with embryonic chick heart spheroids in vitro, and cathepsin B was used as molecular marker to immunolabel the invasive tumor cells. In vitro invasion assays of the malignant meningioma cells were used to assess the invasive potential related to the cysteine cathepsins. As to the second aim, the possible association of cathepsin B along with selected molecular markers, cathepsin L, and endogenous cysteine protease inhibitors (stefins A and B and cystatin C) with meningioma malignancy was determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays in tumor homogenates. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to compare these parameters with established biological markers of meningioma recurrence in 119 patients with meningiomas. Results The more invasive tumors, which characteristically overgrew the normal tissue, were identified even within a group of histologically benign meningiomas. More intensive staining of cathepsin B in these tumors was not only found at the tumor front, but also in the invading pseudopodia of a single migrating tumor cells. Matrigel invasion of malignant meningioma cells was significantly altered by modulating cathepsin B activity and by stefin B silencing. In the clinical samples of meningioma, the levels of cathepsins B and L, stefin B, and cystatin C were highest in the tumors of higher histological grades, whereas stefin A and progesterone receptor were the only markers that were significantly increased and decreased, respectively, in WHO Grade III lesions. With respect to the prognosis of relapse, cathepsin L (p = 0.035), stefin B (p = 0.007), cystatin C (p = 0.008), and progesterone receptor (p = 0.049) levels were significant, whereas cathepsin B was not a prognosticator. As expected, WHO grade, age, and Simpson grade (complete tumor resection) were prognostic, with Simpson grade only relevant in the short term (up to 90 months) but not in longer-term follow-up. Of note, the impact of all these parameters was lost in multivariate analysis, due to overwhelming prognostic impact of stefin B (p = 0.039). Conclusions The data indicate that the cysteine cathepsins and their inhibitors are involved in a process related to early meningioma recurrence, regardless of their histological classification. Of note, the known tumor invasiveness marker cathepsin B, measured in whole-tumor homogenates, was not prognostic, in contrast to its endogenous inhibitor stefin B, which was highly significant and the only independent prognostic factor to predict meningioma relapse in multivariate analysis and reported herein for the first time. Stefin B inhibition of local invasion was confirmed by in vitro invasion assay, although its other functions cannot be excluded.


2002 ◽  
Vol 383 (5) ◽  
pp. 839-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasa Sever ◽  
Metka Filipic ◽  
Joze Brzin ◽  
Tamara T. Lah

Abstract Various types of proteinases are implicated in the malignant progression of human and animal tumors. Proteinase inhibitors may therefore be useful as therapeutic agents in antiinvasive and antimetastatic treatment. The aims of this study were (1) to estimate the relative importance of proteinases in B16 cell invasion in vitro using synthetic, classspecific proteinase inhibitors and (2) to assess the inhibitory effect of some naturally occurring cysteine proteinase inhibitors. Serine proteinase inhibitor reduced invasiveness by up to 24%, whereas inhibition of aspartic proteinases reduced invasion by 11%. Synthetic inhibitors of cysteine proteinases markedly impaired invasion: cathepsin B inhibitors, particularly Ca 074Me, inhibited invasion from 20 40%, whereas cathepsin L inhibitor Clik 148 reduced invasion by 11%. The potato cysteine proteinase inhibitor PCPI 8.7 inhibited invasion by 21%, whereas another potato inhibitor, PCPI 6.6, and the mushroom cysteine proteinase inhibitor clitocypin had no effects. As the inhibitors that inhibited cathepsin B were in general more efficient at impairing the invasiveness, we conclude that of the two cysteine proteinases, cathepsin B plays a more important role than cathepsin L in murine melanoma cell invasion.


Author(s):  
A.E. Sutherland ◽  
P.G. Calarco ◽  
C.H. Damsky

Cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions mediated by the integrin family of receptors are critical for morphogenesis and may also play a regulatory role in differentiation during early development. We have examined the onset of expression of individual integrin subunit proteins in the early mouse embryo, and their roles in early morphogenetic events. As detected by immunoprecipitation, the α6, αV, β1, and β3 subunits are detected as early as the 4-cell stage, α5 at the hatched blastocyst stage and αl and α3 following blastocyst attachment. We tested the role of these integrins in the attachment and migratory activity of two cell populations of the early mouse embryo: the trophoblast giant cells, which invade the uterine stroma and ultimately contribute to the chorio-allantoic placenta, and the parietal endoderm, which migrates over the inner surface of the trophoblast and ultimately forms Reichert's membrane and the parietal yolk sac. Experiments were done in serum-free medium on substrates coated with laminin (Ln) and fibronectin (Fn). Trophoblast outgrowth occurs on Ln and its E8 fragment (long arm), but not on the E1’ fragment (cross region) (Figs. 1, 2 ). This outgrowth is inhibited by anti-E8, anti-Ln, and by the anti-β1 family antiserum anti-ECMR, but not by anti-αV or the function-perturbing GoH3 antibody that recognizes the α6/β1 integrin, a major Ln (E8) receptor. This suggests that trophoblast outgrowth on Ln or E8 is mediated by a different β1 integrin such as α3/β1. Early stages of trophoblast outgrowth (up to 48 hours) on Fn are inhibited by anti-Fn and by function-perturbing anti-αV antibodies, whereas at later times outgrowth becomes insensitive to anti-αV but remains sensitive to the anti-β1 family antiserum anti-ECMr, indicating that trophoblast cells modulate their interaction with Fn during outgrowth. Trophoblast outgrowth on vitronectin (Vn) is sensitive to anti-αV antibodies throughout the 5-day period examined.


Reproduction ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qianrong Qi ◽  
Yifan Yang ◽  
Kailin Wu ◽  
Qingzhen Xie

Recent studies revealed that TMEM16A is involved in several reproductive processes, including ovarian estrogen secretion and ovulation, sperm motility and acrosome reaction, fertilization, and myometrium contraction. However, little is known about the expression and function of TMEM16A in embryo implantation and decidualization. In this study, we focused on the expression and regulation of TMEM16A in mouse uterus during early pregnancy. We found that TMEM16A is up-regulated in uterine endometrium in response to embryo implantation and decidualization. Progesterone treatment could induce TMEM16A expression in endometrial stromal cells through progesterone receptor/c-Myc pathway, which is blocked by progesterone receptor antagonist or the inhibitor of c-Myc signaling pathway. Inhibition of TMEM16A by small molecule inhibitor (T16Ainh-A01) resulted in impaired embryo implantation and decidualization in mice. Treatment with either specific siRNA of Tmem16a or T16Ainh-A01 inhibited the decidualization and proliferation of mouse endometrial stromal cells. In conclusion, our results revealed that TMEM16A is involved in embryo implantation and decidualization in mice, compromised function of TMEM16A may lead to impaired embryo implantation and decidualization.


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