The proteoglycan brevican binds to fibronectin after proteolytic cleavage and promotes glioma cell motility.

ABSTRACT: The adult neural parenchyma contains a distinctive extracellular matrix that acts as a barrier to cell and neurite motility. Nonneural tumors that metastasize to the central nervous system almost never infiltrate it and instead displace the neural tissue as they grow. In contrast, invasive gliomas disrupt the extracellular matrix and disperse within the neural tissue. A major inhibitory component of the neural matrix is the lectican family of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans, of which brevican is the most abundant member in the adult brain. Interestingly, brevican is also highly up-regulated in gliomas and promotes glioma dispersion by unknown mechanisms. Here we show that brevican secreted by glioma cells enhances cell adhesion and motility only after proteolytic cleavage. At the molecul

SUBMITTER: Hu B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3259830 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature