Scaffold-forming and Adhesive Contributions of Synthetic Laminin-binding Proteins to Basement Membrane Assembly.

ABSTRACT: Laminins that possess three short arms contribute to basement membrane assembly by anchoring to cell surfaces, polymerizing, and binding to nidogen and collagen IV. Although laminins containing the alpha4 and alpha5 subunits are expressed in alpha2-deficient congenital muscular dystrophy, they may be ineffective substitutes because they bind weakly to cell surfaces and/or because they lack the third arm needed for polymerization. We asked whether linker proteins engineered to bind to deficient laminins that provide such missing activities would promote basement membrane assembly in a Schwann cell model. A chimeric fusion protein (alphaLNNd) that adds a short arm terminus to laminin through the nidogen binding locus was generated and compared with the dystrophy-ameliorating protein miniagri

SUBMITTER: McKee KK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2659255 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature