Hyaluronan digestion and synthesis in an experimental model of metastatic tumour

Hyaluronan - a functional and structural sweet spot in the tissue microenvironment

Transition from homeostatic to reactive matrix remodeling is a fundamental adaptive tissue response to injury, inflammatory disease, fibrosis, and cancer. Alterations in architecture, physical properties, and matrix composition result in changes in biomechanical and biochemical cellular signaling. The dynamics of pericellular and extracellular matrices, including matrix protein, proteoglycan, and glycosaminoglycan modification are continually emerging as essential regulatory mechanisms underlying cellular and tissue function. Nevertheless, the impact of matrix organization on inflammation and immunity in particular and the consequent effects on tissue healing and disease outcome are arguably under-studied aspects of adaptive stress responses. Herein, we review how the predominant glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan (HA) contributes to the structure and function of the tissue microenvironment. Specifically, we examine the evidence of HA degradation and the generation of biologically active smaller HA fragments in pathological settings in vivo. We discuss how HA fragments versus nascent HA via alternate receptor-mediated signaling influence inflammatory cell recruitment and differentiation, resident cell activation, as well as tumor growth, survival, and metastasis. Finally, we discuss how HA fragmentation impacts restoration of normal tissue function and pathological outcomes in disease.

Hyaluronectin modulation of lung metastasis in nude mice

Hyaluronectin (HN) is a glycoprotein with a high affinity to hyaluronic acid (HA) and known to be a component of the extracellular matrix of tumours. Clinical studies have shown that a low level of HN correlates to tumours with poor prognosis, whereas a high level of HN correlates to tumours with good prognosis. We previously demonstrated in vitro that hyaluronidase activity, which promotes tumour progression and metastatic spread by degradation of HA into angiogenic oligosaccharides, was inhibited or promoted by HN, according to the level of HN-expression. This raises the question of the role played by HN in cancer, and particularly if high and low levels of HN-expression could trigger opposite effects on tumour growth and/or metastatic spread. To address this issue, we used a model of spontaneous lung fluorescent metastases that we characterised previously. We stably transfected the human HN cDNA into fluorescent H460MGFP cells and selected two clones characterised by different levels of HN-expression: HN110 and HN704, with a high and a low level of HN-expression, respectively. In vitro, we demonstrated that HN704 cell migration was significantly increased. Inoculation of clones to nude mice had no significant effect on tumour growth, but clearly revealed opposite effects on metastatic spread: HN110 significantly decreased the number of fluorescent metastases whereas HN704 significantly increased it. We also analysed HN, HA and hyaluronidase contents in sera and tumours. These results demonstrate that HN can play a role as either a suppressor or promoter of metastatic spread.

Reticulated hyaluronan hydrogels: a model for examining cancer cell invasion in 3D

The extracellular polysaccharide hyaluronan (HA) controls cell migration, differentiation and proliferation, and contributes to the invasiveness of human cancers. The roles of HA cell surface receptors and hyaluronidases (HAses) in this process are still controversial. In order to investigate their involvement in cancer pathogenesis, we developed a reticulated HA hydrogel, a three-dimensional matrix in which cells can invade and grow. We have studied thirteen cell lines, from primary tumors or metastases, that migrated into the HA hydrogel and proliferated giving rise to clusters and colonies. The number of colonies, which reflects tumor cell invasiveness, ranged from 7 to 193 after 5 days of culture. Invasion was dependent on the production of HAse as well as other factors. Optimal colonization occurred when cells released HAse, lacked HA-binding sites and did not secrete HA. Moreover, we describe for the first time a HAse activity at physiological pH that may be responding to the confinement of the enzyme in a three-dimensional structure. We show here that this reticulated matrix provides a three-dimensional model for investigating mechanisms involved in malignant invasion.

Effect of hyaluronidase and PEG chain conjugation on the biologic and antitumor activity of RNase A

Subcutaneous application of bovine RNase A conjugated to HYase (bovine hyaluronidase), polyethylene glycol (PEG) and HYase+PEG resulted in a marked reduction of the width of the spermatogenic layers of the mouse testes. The number of sperms in caput epididymidis was significantly decreased in mice injected with conjugated RNase A. There was not any significant embryotoxic effect of free RNase A even conjugated with HYse, PEG and HYse+PEG. The immunogenicity, expressed in production of antibodies against free RNase A or conjugates with PEG, was very low. However, the immunogenic action of this enzyme conjugated only to HYase was much higher and produced the same immunogenicity as HYase itself. The immunogenic effect of RNase A+HYase conjugate decreased when PEG was joined to this conjugate. The inhibitory effect of RNase A conjugated to HYase, PEG and HYase+PEG on human ML-2 cells studied in vitro, was practically ineffective. On the other side, when RNase A conjugated to HYase or PEG was administered intraperitoneally into the mice bearing human melanoma, the antitumor effect was pronounced.

Hyaluronidase in sera of tumour-bearing nude mice

Cancer cell lines often secrete hyaluronidase, suggesting that this enzyme could be used as a marker of growing tumours. We have measured hyaluronidase in the sera of non-grafted mice and mice grafted with human tumour-derived hyaluronidase-secreting H460M and SA87 cells or non-secreting CB 193 cells. Mouse serum hyaluronidase was measured at pH 3.8 using the enzyme-linked sorbent assay (ELSA) technique by reference to human serum whose activity at pH 3.8 was determined by the Reissig technique. The serum hyaluronidase in non-grafted mice ranged from 310-520 mU l(-1) (mean+/-SD 432+/-70 mU l(-1), median 440 mU l(-1)). Hyaluronidase increased in the sera of tumour-bearing mice grafted with H460M cells or with SA87 cells, but not in the sera of mice grafted with CB 193 cells. Serum hyaluronidase activity in H460M or SA87 tumour-bearing mice correlated with the tumour mass, increased with time, and decreased after tumour removal. Zymography detected two different hyaluronidase forms in the sera of non-grafted mice: type 1 had only one hyaluronidase band and type 2 had five different bands. In both types, enzyme augmentation in tumour-bearing mice correlated with the presence of an additional enzyme band that was not seen in normal sera and that migrated as the cancer cell enzyme did; there was no augmentation of the normal isoform(s). These results show that serum hyaluronidase can be used to follow the development of tumours in mice grafted with hyaluronidase-secreting cells.

Human monocytes synthesize hyaluronidase

The involvement of hyaluronic acid (HA) oligosaccharides and blood-derived mononuclear cells in inflammatory processes prompted us to determine whether peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) possess hyaluronidase activity. PBMC were incubated with macromolecular-tritiated HA at pH 3.8 and supernatants were analysed by size exclusion chromatography to reveal digestion of HA. This digestion was due to the CD14-positive (CD14+), adherent, non-specific esterase-positive, subpopulation of PBMC. Hyaluronidase activity (72 kDa) was found in aqueous and non-ionic detergent PBMC extracts but not in the medium in which the cells had been cultured. These results indicate that hyaluronidase is, at least in part, linked to the membrane rather than excreted. Hence, monocytes have one or more hyaluronidases that can generate a pool of active HA fragments within tissues. Hyaluronidase activity was also found in 3/3 myelomonocytic lineage leukaemias but not in 3/3 lymphoblastic leukaemias.